Banded Snipe Flies (Chrysopilus Fasciatus), Males, Taken May 26, 2024, In Georgia, US

What they don’t tell you about getting into bird watching is that once you get into it, you do not get to decide when you bird watch. You can be on the beach of some distant tropical country with nothing planned except relaxing. But then you see a Common Fluttering Nut Buster and you’re like fuckkkkkkkk holy shit guys the Common Fluttering Nut Buster is not supposed to life this far west holy shitttttttttt

Eastern Calligrapher (Toxomerus geminatus), female, taken April 12, 2025, in Georgia, US

A nice hoverfly perching on a flower. While hoverflies are out year-round here, they're in full swing now! Along with dozens of adults, I've started to see larvae too! The larvae of many hoverflies (though not all) feed on small invertebrates, aphids being a favorite of some (aptly named "Aphideaters"). As adults, many become herbivores, feeding on plant nectar. This is the same strategy most insects employ. It's much easier to survive if adults and babies of the same species eat different things at different life stages—less competition!

Stone Centipede (Order Lithobiomorpha), taken March 19, 2025, in Georgia, US

A lovely, striped stone centipede! I found this one while stripping bark off of pine trees and got what is probably my best picture of one of these guys yet. Stone centipedes (and most centipedes, honestly) tend to flee as soon as they're uncovered, so they're very hard to photograph. This guy, however, sat very still for me! What a polite individual!

Wait a minute. Stink Bugs don't have a larva stage. They're just born as little guys and slowly get bigger as they get older??? 🥺

Spiny Assassin Bug (Sinea spinipes), taken May 5, 2025, in Georgia, US

Spiny, indeed! Look at those legs! The nymphs of this species are mostly black with a yellow abdomen, quite different from the brown camouflage of adults. If you're not looking closely, adults can be overlooked at a brown spot on leaves or part of tree bark. They're quite good at what they do! I usually only find nymphs, so finding this adult hiding in the leaves was a nice treat!

Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis), taken March 12, 2025, in Georgia, US

The bloodroot is finally showing its pretty face! There's tons of flowers blooming out of the leaflitter. This is my first time catching them in full bloom, and they're gorgeous! This plant is named after its red roots, which can sometimes resemble the color of blood. Its flowers can also take many different shapes, some having shorter petals with round edges similar to a daisy, and others like these, though they also exist in every form between those two extremes!

He hath returned...

He visited again twice today. Not sure what he's doing, but during this visit he borbed it up on a branch in the sun and then looked at things on the ground for a couple minutes before flying off. It's possible he's just weathering the winter in the area, but it'd be nice if he was thinking about spending his first nesting season here :)

Red-shouldered Hawk (Buteo lineatus), taken February 18, 2025, in Georgia, US

My feeder had a very large visitor this morning! Despite how close to the house it is, we get hawks perching on the feeder much more often than you would think. This guy spent over 20 minutes soaking in the late-morning sun and getting screamed at by hundreds of birds before he finally decided it was too loud. At one point a bluejay perched a few feet away in the nearby japanese maple and used up his entire arsenal of calls yelling at the hawk lol! It was extremely loud...

After a few minutes of him sunning, the smaller birds said fuck it and started eating again, and I got some decent video of him watching them flit around that I'll probably post later. I also got a video of him taking off, which I'll definitely post, but I have to figure out how to export the videos from my camera first! I've never taken video on this one before. So enjoy only photos for now!

Downy Woodpeckers (Dryobates pubescens), males (1 & 3) and female (2), taken February 10, 2025, in Georgia, US

Their youthful looks and shiny eyes captivate me... They just make such good photos lol! There's so many of them here that I honestly don't know how often I'm photographing the same individual. The male here is the same one, but once they leave the feeder it's impossible to keep track!

Carolina Chickadee (Poecile carolinensis), taken April 30, 2025, in Georgia, US

A chickadee fluttering around the suet feeder! This individual seemed quite reluctant to use its right foot, possibly due to an injury. Despite that, it was able to perch upright and on the feeder bars fine after a bit of adjusting. The chickadees are always very bold, and even injured this one is no exception!