elinpierce's Favorites

Found up on a high altitude ridge (9600 ft asl) in fairly rocky terrain in the Desatoya Mountains.

NOTE: - This observation refers to the smaller skull in 6 additional photos.
24 Aug. - I added 6 photos to compare this skull to another (LARGER) skull I found in another location. This larger skull was ID'ed by several folks as Marmota flaviventris. See: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/54930328

(NOTE: My ID is a rough guess based on characteristics shown in species' photos. Body = approx 1.75-2" long)
On an evening walk in sagebrush scrubland, I came across this pair clasping each other's claws, head-to-head. As I observed them at length, I realized that they were not engaged in a territorial struggle, but rather - a courtship waltz. It seemingly lasted forever! At one point, the much slimmer male, who was leading the female around, had to stop to rest for a brief spell. This is the first time I have ever seen a scorpion, and to view their armored little bodies close up is impressive.

It's worth looking at 2 of these photos that show the scorpion's "Pectines" the it can use to detect ground vibrations -

"These peculiar paired struc­tures are present on the ventral side of sec­ond mesosomatic segment. Each pectine is formed of a three-segmented shaft carrying at the free posterior end a row of 4-36 movable processes like the teeth of a comb. Pectines are tactile sense organs and are probably olfactory too. Pectines are larger in males than in females." (from https://www.biologydiscussion.com/invertebrate-zoology/phylum-arthropoda/scorpions-with-diagram-phylum-arthropoda/33501)

A truly beautiful butterfly, and small (only about an inch or so tall).
It calmly harvested nectar from a dandelion in the yard.
In photo 2, the butterfly stopped feeding, and lifted its antennae up, and started slowly rotating its wings -- just the back, smaller set. It looked really funny, like someone warming up their shoulders before a workout! I saw no other butterfly nearby, so its not clear if this behavior was meant to attract a mate. After a while it stopped the wing-rotating, and went back to feeding.

PS - Dandelions can be a source of many interesting pollinator observations!

I found this large beetle on our deck which overlooks a small yard that borders onto dense bottomland hardwood (deciduous) forest. We have an amazing variety of insects. I saw a much smaller individual of this same species as well, perhaps not fully grown, while this is an adult. It even made hissing noises when disturbed!

This is the craziest caterpillar I have ever seen. I found this about 3 in long bright yellow hairy caterpillar walking along the forest floor in dense hardwood bottomlands near the Mississippi. When I picked it up with a stick, I could see that the ends of its legs were pink - it almost looked like it had pink tennis shoes! Check it out on the second photo. What in the world is this and what did it turn into? (I resisted the impulse to take it home to a terrarium!)

Not sure what subspecies this might be. High desert (4,600 ft asl) in Northern Nevada.
The front limbs on this 7-8" long lizard are sci-fi surreal ! Moving very fast this midday, but I got lucky with the photos.

Juvenile... one of three in the nest platform about 40-50 ft up on the top of a fir tree. It had fallen to the ground, and the rest of the gang was far away in the tree top. It was rescued by the Security Forces on base; they helped place the juvie back in the nest.

2nd photo - Plan A - raise up to a branch 10ft off the ground to avoid coyote predation...

3rd photo - Plan B - far better. Electric shop came to the rescue, and we lifted the juvie back up to the platform. Three weeks later, all three chicks were out of the nest and nearly fledged. :-)