ljodwalis's Favorites

!!!

On the last day of a Big Year, but with me unaware at the time, one final life species appears. And it's a big one! Many thanks to @caiawatha for helping make this one happen. A really special observation to me.

I believe the wolverine appears at 01:58am, but then kindly reappears for better pics midday 13:15-13:30.

The camera also caught a wolverine on January 3 and January 17.

Observation (originally made by Jack Reakoff) has been vetted and accepted by ABA. Wanted it in the iNat database.

This male spent 2 days in Jack Reakoff's yard in Wiseman nectaring on the delphiniums in his garden and catching insects in the brush nearby.

At the time, this was only the third record of A. colubris in Alaska

Camera trap with scent lure and rabbit fur.

On second night, marten appeared at 20:07 (first photo) and triggered camera multiple times throughout night until 05:00hr the following day. Some comical videos of marten swinging suspended on the hare.

i have seen several of these gorgeous beetles since about 2010. The first was identified by Derek Sikes, Curator of the Entomology Collection at the Univ. of Alaska Museum of the North from a photo I took. These beetles seem to be most active in the first two weeks of June. Boreal forest, mixed white spruce and paper birch.

These magnificent moths appear rarely in our garden, which is surrounded by old-growth boreal forest with white spruce and paper birch. Pollinators flock to our lilac bushes. I saw 1 or 2 in 2022, none in 2023.
In August 2023, I found just one caterpillar of this species in a part of our yard that is "feral" with fireweed dominating. It was the final (?) instar, pinkish-beige in color (I raised one to an adult several years ago).