Attempted predation on female Rhionaeschna multicolor (Blue-eyed Darner). Prey eventually escaped
Senecio flaccidus host. Spring mining of new terminal leaves. Powell & Povolný (2001) say this about a Scrobipalpula mine on Asteraceae species: "The mines are kept clean of frass, which is ejected in small piles on an adjacent leaf or at the axil..." (16-17). Bit of a stretch to Senecio, but they also find a member of the same species complex S. psilella there, viz., at coastal dunes S. antiochia: "The larvae feed in terminal shelters in new foliage of Senecio douglasii" (17). There is no clear sign of external feeding. Not sure all frass is ejected. I should have opened these up more. They were abundant in this area.
On private land with permission
Not open to public
On Asclepias eriocarpa
On private land with permission
Not open to public
eating a dead pinky mouse that seemed to have been thrown up by another animal (there was also some partly digested plant material nearbye)
Eating gopher snake corpse
Found with spider webs stuck to wing. I got it off as best as I could without damaging the wing more then it already was and put it on a nearby bush.
Tich (995 - tan tags) being dive bombed by a peregrine falcon!
Found in a group on/feeding on willow leaves
private property. was given permission to enter.
Accidentally scared a burrowing owl off it's prey under a shallow rock overhang.
For scale 10 threads of the sheet equals ~3 mm
For scale 10 threads of the sheet equals ~3 mm
Beating Baccharis, prey item of lacewing larva, maybe a tingid nymph?
Getting dragged out of a hole in the ground by Formica ants.
About seven of these mites were extracted from live oak leaf litter using a Tullgren funnel, collected with permit PINN-2023-SCI-0005, specimen photos taken at the California Academy of Sciences.
~7100' elevation.
National Moth Week July 22-30, 2023.
BugGuide suggested ID for 2020 observation: https://bugguide.net/node/view/2092938/bgimage
I followed this badger to a burrow, and waited for it to emerge. I sat down still, and it seemed pretty tolerant.
Type locality.
beautiful orange and red
Most likely Queen, very large
on Ceanothus
Adela septentrionella? I am studying the mating system of this Adela sp. at Flathead Lake Biological Station. Males engage in combat using long tibial spurs during flight displays and while landed on leaves immediately below. They clearly are trying to fray one another’s wings and also kill rivals. Swarms of 2-6 males occur at the same sites season after season. On my study site, displays occur above Ninebark (Physocarpus malvaceus) leaves while shrubs are in full bloom; males and females drink the nectar. Females, with orange hairdo and shorter antennas, watch male displays, often upwind, from 15 - 20 feet away. Females may be releasing a pheromone that tells males they are being watched and that intensifies male-male combat. Females eventually fly into the male swarm and engage in evasive flight; the least damaged male would be the most likely to capture her. Orange hair helps keep them from being slashed, I hypothesize. Mating occurs below the mating swarm, in plain view, without interference. Fertilized females fight over the most sun-exposed Ocean Spray (Holodiscus discolor) unopened flower inflorescences for oviposition. Traditional display sites have both these shrubs growing contiguously. My observations might be on a slightly disjunct Adela septentrionella population, or that of a subspecies? In spite of much local searching, I have never seen them anywhere except the Biological Station. I have posted two pictures of males and two of females, taken by me.
Small moth larva (about 8mm long) that I teased out of a leaf mine in Malocathamnus clementinus
Adults (2nd photo combines 4 adults) reared from a batch of caterpillars found on Arctostaphylos sp.
Observation location and date refer to original caterpillar find.
Eclosed: November-December, 2022.
Initial ID is a CV suggestion.
Visiting flowers on Rough Chervil (Apiaceae: Chaerophyllum temulum). The yellow background is an out-of-focus Creeping Buttercup. :-)