So what did you spot today? Here’s what I found. 🙂
My first spot was a stink bug on a Maximilian Sunflower (Helianthus maximiliani). I think it was drooling. LOL
Crawling nearby on the same plant above was a tiny red mite. Most mites are predators. Two spots and I had hardly gone anywhere. 🙂
Ok, full confession, I actually spotted this flower yesterday. The flower is a Maximilian Sunflower (Helianthus maximiliani) with a cat!
It was a very energetic little thing! Late last night I ID’ed as a Sunflower moth (Homoeosoma electellum)! And appropriately it was on a sunflower.
Today I walked by the little guy again to checkup on it. Whoa it had been hungry!
Additionally, it had folded up a couple of petals for shelter as seen above. However, I had to open it to make sure it was the cat and not something else. So it was!
Red berries on the ground!
I was pretty sure what it was before I squished it open. The plant, Snailseed (Cocculus carolinus) gets it name from its berry. So the seed is shaped like a snail. Besides the birds that love the berries, it is the host plant for Moonseed Moth (Plusiodonta compressipalpis).
Finally the last spot, the Spotted Towhee! Moreover it is the first of the season! Yahoo!
Oh wow a Spotted Towhee, yay!
I had something today but no binoculars. It may have been an Ash-throated Flycatcher. And we saw a tiny cat on my cowpen daisies and now wish I had photographed it to compare. Guess if I find petals that look like those I will have a clue. Still not a lot of butterflies here but lots of honeybees hitting the flowers. And always lots of Pipevine Swallowtails. Oh I do have 1 Common Maestra but very hard to photograph. moves too much.
So cute! I think we’ve had those sunflower moths in our zinnias too??
Adults or cats?
Cats on zinnias. Looks like from Inat we’ve seen adults on sunflower flowers twice!
Very cool!
Oh wow a Spotted Towhee, yay!
I had something today but no binoculars. It may have been an Ash-throated Flycatcher. And we saw a tiny cat on my cowpen daisies and now wish I had photographed it to compare. Guess if I find petals that look like those I will have a clue. Still not a lot of butterflies here but lots of honeybees hitting the flowers. And always lots of Pipevine Swallowtails. Oh I do have 1 Common Maestra but very hard to photograph. moves too much.
Flycatchers are hard for me. I will be watching to see if the Common Maestra make it up here. Fingers crossed. 🙂
I have this picture of you out night spotting with your uv light looking for all things fluorescent
Ha ha!
I’m so excited about the dams coming down on the Klamath River! I hope it’s well covered in the news.