its_micah_bson's Favorites

Back in 2011, when I got this picture and reported the sighting to the Washington Ornithological Society, they indicated it had been a couple years since one had been reported in Washington (state).

I walked the area for years, including nearly 4 years after this sighting, never seeing a Northern Cardinal again.

the female below is a festive TB. There were other festive TBs all around, but no other species. The sand was wet from recent rains and it appears that this is what is on the back of dark TB. The female festive will be in the next submission, after the dark one left. The dark one did not look like a punctured TB to me.

I found more of these Omophron americanum beetles down near the lake, and a number of them seemed to be infected with a fungus, that I assume is the same one as in https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/152178057?