josephthebirder's Favorites

Adult male - found on rocky limestone trail in Comal County near Canyon Lake. I believe this is one of the elusive Texas Terralonus that Tim Manolis has been looking for.

Added a quick & dirty shot of the palp. Last photo is just to give a rough idea of habitat.

Also posted to BugGuide (here)

(Live specimen received by Tim Manolis. Will update with his findings when he is able to examine it.)

This is the 1st post of several Salticidae, likely all Attinella concolor (or not!). After last week's somewhat accidental find of the 1st Attinella concolor (here: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/83080798 ), followed by a sighting of a very small individual yesterday (Friday), I went out to the same flower bed Saturday morning & spent several hours searching for more. I was rewarded with this and four others. There is a possibility that this individual is the same one from the other day (roughly same size, shape & demeanor). I will update this post with links to the others.

Comparing photos of all 5, this one appears to be an adult female (thoughts?).

These were all found in one of the pollinator flower beds which surround our house - in a roughly 8' x 10' somewhat sparsely-planted area.

• original from last week: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/83080798
• 2nd individual (appears to be male): https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/83787486
• 3rd individual (appears to be immature male?): https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/83794846
• 4th individual (apparently different species - Talavera minuta): https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/83815870
• 5th individual (appears to be male): https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/83822356

I am working on improving my Salticidae IDs - comments/suggestions are very welcome.

This is the 2nd individual of the 5 found on Saturday. See here for more details: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/83779118

This appears to be an adult male (?). The four spots (& different pattern) on the abdomen coupled with a more silver/grayish color (vs brown) is a significant change from the first individual.

This is the 5th individual of the 5 found on Saturday. See here for more details: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/83779118

This appears to be a male (?).

I am working on improving my Salticidae IDs - comments/suggestions are very welcome.

If you look at it's rear legs, they blend in tho the abdomen so it looks like it has six legs to appear ant-like. It's front mandibles also resemble that of an ant. It also has an added segment to resemble a thorax. I photoshopped these very little so that our observers can take in the full of extent of detail as opposed to something that is more aesthetic. For Science! Spectacular!

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What first appeared to be a tiny beetle trying to hide from a larger Colonus sp. jumping spider, turned out to be this tiny, super cool jumper! Found along a branch hanging near fence post.

Our first night down in the LRGV, we decided to explore the property of the AirBNB we stayed at, being tired from the 8 hour drive. I'm so glad we did as I found so my lifers on this property and single night alone! I am very appreciative of the Darling family keeping this piece of land 'wild' and native.

Note the pale gray head with a darker edge along the nape and a paler crown and forehead. Also note the pale yellow iris.

This gull hung around the beach at Coney Island in Brooklyn, NY, from July 24, 2011, through the late summer of 2011. The Coney Island bird is only the second Gray-hooded Gull found in the United States. The species usually occurs in South America and southern Africa.

Beautiful spider - glad to finally find one in the wild and happen to have my camera with me. Somehow I managed to take 20 pictures of this spider and not get a good in-focus dorsal shot :(

It's not obvious in these photos but there is a patch of light/white scales near the base of the chelicerae which matches notes I found on bugguide for H. coecatus.

~4mm. Playing on a picnic table in a neighborhood park.