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I see bats pretty frequently, but more often when I'm out in my hometown, a smaller town a couple of hours away from Pitt. That said, I did have a bat visitor swoop down the chimney of my Crafton apartment, so they do live within the city limits! I once rescued a tiny bat at PPG Plaza when I worked there -- just moved him to a safe space away from people.
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Sep 19, 2017 03:49
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Slo-Tek posted:Polyphemus caterpillar. That one is done eating and looking for an out of the way spot with some leaf litter and twigs to spin it's cocoon. Will emerge in the spring as an owl-eyed moth the size of your hand. Thanks!
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Sep 19, 2017 19:16
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  love these little chompers
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Sep 20, 2017 01:32
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 What is that?
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Sep 20, 2017 01:35
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A rove beetle! I think a devil's coach horse, but if not then another closely related species. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devil%27s_coach_horse_beetle
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Sep 20, 2017 01:54
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Rove beetles. The most inferior of all beetles.
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Sep 20, 2017 01:55
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the yeti posted:A rove beetle! I think a devil's coach horse, but if not then another closely related species. I was thinking devil's coach horse, too, even though I constantly misremember the name as "devil's coachman." We have 'em around here, even though I only saw one for the first time a few years ago.
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Sep 20, 2017 07:27
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Asiina posted:Was waiting for the bus when this giant nightmare bug started flying around. I watched it as it landed and then proceeded to dig a hole. Upon further inspection there were many of them in this little hill by the bus stop, all doing some sort of hole maintenance. It's a digger wasp, familiy Sphecidae. They feed their larvae other insects, but are in the strict sense not parasitic.
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Sep 20, 2017 09:28
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HELLO HUMAN
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Sep 22, 2017 09:21
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 she was not interested in a photo op e: also, not pictured: 2 dead rats trapped last night poverty goat fucked around with this message at 13:34 on Sep 22, 2017 |
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Sep 22, 2017 13:26
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CaptainSarcastic posted:I was thinking devil's coach horse, too, even though I constantly misremember the name as "devil's coachman." We have 'em around here, even though I only saw one for the first time a few years ago. Based on bugguide's range data it's probably : http://bugguide.net/node/view/46155
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Sep 23, 2017 02:52
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A bug that I haven't seen before! What is this fancy little dude?  
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Sep 23, 2017 22:23
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It's a tortoise beetle! Can't quite tell what kind, but they can be pests, so if it's on a plant you care about, keep an eye on the number of them.
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Sep 23, 2017 23:10
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Captain Invictus posted:It's a tortoise beetle! Can't quite tell what kind, but they can be pests, so if it's on a plant you care about, keep an eye on the number of them. What's up with the translucent coating? Is it still pupating or something?
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Sep 23, 2017 23:15
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That's an adult, the translucent bits are just part of the exoskeleton, they're a pretty common feature on the various species of tortoise beetles. They're neat!
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Sep 23, 2017 23:49
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Found some turtles loving on my lawn. I did not take any pics mid-coitus because I am not a turtle pornographer. Post-coitus, they part.  The "female". As I have neither the expertise nor the inclination to sex a turtle, I'm going to assume that this is the case.    The "male".   
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Sep 26, 2017 18:47
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Them's some primo box turtles 
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Sep 26, 2017 18:54
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Sexing box turtles is really easy. Females have brown or yellow eyes, males will have red or orange eyes (in most cases); you can see the eyes in your photos, so you sexed them right. Males will also have a concave plastron (bottom part of the shell), which makes it easier to stay on the female during mating.
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Sep 26, 2017 18:58
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Watching them gently caress is a pretty foolproof method of sexing many animals, too. EDIT: From several years ago. Swainson's hawks.  SD 136 Sexy Swainsons 5 by Martin Brummell, on Flickr
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Sep 26, 2017 18:59
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ExecuDork posted:Watching them gently caress is a pretty foolproof method of sexing many animals, too. One peculiar exception is the bark louse. quote:This picture of two mating insects comes with an unexpected twist. The one on top is a female, and she has a penis. The one on the bottom is a male, and he has the equivalent of a vagina. During sexual bouts that can last for 40 to 70 hours, she penetrates him and uses her genitals not to deliver sperm, but to collect it.
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Sep 27, 2017 00:35
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Mak0rz posted:One peculiar exception is the bark louse.   
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Sep 27, 2017 00:59
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Sep 27, 2017 17:16
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Mak0rz posted:One peculiar exception is the bark louse. Nature is so weird What a good mum
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Sep 27, 2017 17:50
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I don't believe your shock is genuine, "Dick Trauma" 
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Sep 30, 2017 14:23
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Some critters at a campsite in Bronte Creek Provincial Park, Burlington, Ontario, from June. I sat down last night and banged out some quick edits before bed. I have a large backlog of photos from the last half-year, including many cool critters. Bronte Creek PP 1 by Martin Brummell, on FlickrTiger Beetle  Bronte Creek PP 2 by Martin Brummell, on Flickr Bronte Creek PP 3 by Martin Brummell, on FlickrAnt-mimicing jumping spider. I'd heard of these but I never expected to see one. This guy was just exploring the picnic table at our campsite.  Bronte Creek PP 4 by Martin Brummell, on FlickrItty-bitty ants doing tunnel construction/maintenance in their log.  Bronte Creek PP 6 by Martin Brummell, on FlickrCepaea nemoralis  Bronte Creek PP 7 by Martin Brummell, on Flickr Bronte Creek PP 8 by Martin Brummell, on Flickr Bronte Creek PP 9 by Martin Brummell, on FlickrPollinators  Bronte Creek PP 12 by Martin Brummell, on Flickr Bronte Creek PP 13 by Martin Brummell, on Flickr Bronte Creek PP 15 by Martin Brummell, on Flickr Bronte Creek PP 17 by Martin Brummell, on FlickrAnd some miscellaneous critter photos.
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Oct 3, 2017 15:42
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ExecuDork posted:
What?! This is crazy. Nice shot!
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Oct 3, 2017 18:10
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Look at this little poo poo, leaving its rear end squeezins and sleeping bags all over the place: Why won't you eat your cocoons when you're done with them bro? 
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Oct 5, 2017 04:12
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oh my gosh those dainty little black feet
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Oct 6, 2017 18:44
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Skutter posted:What?! This is crazy. Nice shot! I had to count the legs, and thanks to the high quality photo I could!
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Oct 6, 2017 18:54
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Found a bunch of early-instar Snowberry Clearwing cats out in October yesterday. They have about 3 weeks of growing yet to do, so I brought them in incase there are cold snaps.  
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Oct 6, 2017 19:07
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Slo-Tek posted:Found a bunch of early-instar Snowberry Clearwing cats out in October yesterday. They have about 3 weeks of growing yet to do, so I brought them in incase there are cold snaps. vaguely posted:oh my gosh those dainty little black feet
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Oct 6, 2017 19:23
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was walking through the woods the other day when I noticed something dart near my feet (phone pics sorry)  dapper lil' gent, I think this could only be a wood frog? (southeastern Connecticut)
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Oct 9, 2017 01:52
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That is a wood frog! They can actually freeze solid and then thaw out and wake up fine; this is one of the reasons they're one of the most northern occurring frogs in the world - you can find them in parts of Alaska.
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Oct 13, 2017 19:46
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Thread, I need Western PA bumblebee help! Pretty bad at bees, can y'all help me understand if I'm looking at two or three different species, or different castes of the same species? I see these intermingled on these white flowers near work more or less any time I go out; the smaller ones like in the first photo are more numerous, have a warmer coloring, yellow and black-brown, while the big beefy one in the second photo is much paler yellow and black-black. The teeny tiny one in the second photo I assume is a stunted individual as it's colored just like the big one but smaller than any of other bumbles around. If particular perspectives would help I could pretty easily go back out there and shoot more photos.   Added bonus, solitary bee? Maybe Megachile sp.?  Edit: have some other pollinators! I haven't had time to work on ID for these yet, but the green shiny bee might be Agapostemon sp. and the wasp in the 3rd photo might be Polistes dominula.     the yeti fucked around with this message at 21:05 on Oct 14, 2017 |
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Oct 14, 2017 16:04
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You got every caste of Bombus impatiens! The one on your finger is a drone, the small female is a worker, and the large one is a queen. Bumble bees actually vary a lot in size within species depending on how much they're fed during development. It's totally normal. They do size-determined division of labor, contrast with honey bees which do it by age. Small bumble bee workers tend to be given nursery duties so usually you don't see the really small ones outside of the hive. That one is a bit small, but I can't say whether she's big enough to be a forager or not. The nursery bees tend to be really tiny though. I knew this picture would come in handy some day (six years later)!  Left are two nursery bees, followed by two foragers, and finally the queen. Mak0rz fucked around with this message at 18:07 on Oct 14, 2017 |
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Oct 14, 2017 17:57
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Mak0rz posted:You got every caste of Bombus impatiens!  I had no idea they varied in size THAT much!So given that the drones were really plentiful I guess I just happened to start observing this section of flowers around the time they're flying?
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Oct 14, 2017 20:58
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If anyone wants to attract bumblebees to their garden, I strongly suggest coleus plants. Two years in a row now I've gone out intending to cut off the flowers (makes them grow fuller) and couldn't bring myself to do it because every plant was crawling with bumblebees. I'll try to remember to take pics if it's not too cold tomorrow.
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Oct 15, 2017 02:22
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the yeti posted:So given that the drones were really plentiful I guess I just happened to start observing this section of flowers around the time they're flying? Drones are produced throughout most of the season, but this time of year production is kicked up a notch because it's nearly winter and it's time for new queens to mate and start hibernating. This production pattern is called phenology and it varies between species and regions.  (source: US Forest Service) B. impatiens is an eastern species and so isn't included in that document. The eastern guide's phenology charts aren't as informative:  Both of those documents are free and extremely useful if you want to identify bumble bees in your region. Go nuts! The authors wrote a book that's far more comprehensive though if you want an actual book. It includes tons of bonus information about general bumble bee biology to boot: https://www.amazon.ca/Bumble-Bees-North-America-Identification/dp/0691152225
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Oct 15, 2017 03:23
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Mak0rz are you strictly a bee expert or do you also know wasps and hornets and yellowjackets? (I don't have a photo or anything, I'm just curious)
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Oct 15, 2017 03:39
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YggiDee posted:Mak0rz are you strictly a bee expert or do you also know wasps and hornets and yellowjackets? (I don't have a photo or anything, I'm just curious) Neither actually, though I'm flattered to be called an expert! I just worked in a bumble bee lab for three years in grad school. I'll be happy to try and answer questions about vespids if you have them, though.
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Oct 15, 2017 03:48
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