Red-shouldered Hawk (Buteo Lineatus), Taken January 30, 2025, In Georgia, US

Psyllid (Genus Craspedolepta), taken April 4, 2025, in Georgia, US

Psyllid time!!! I was very excited to see one of these guys while inspecting some flowers for exciting stuff. These definitely count as exciting! I've only seen a few psyllids ever, but they're so, so cool. Much like aphids, they are very picky about what they eat from, and many are single-host specialists, so it's important to know what the psyllid you find is eating from (if it's feeding) or sitting on to have the best chance at a species ID! I tend to document all of the flowers I see insects visiting to annotate them on iNat, but I don't have this one yet (somehow), so I'll have to get back outside and check lol. For now, genus is as far as I can go with this!

Hooded Warbler (Setophaga citrina), male, taken April 1, 2025

Quite the uncommon visitor showed his face at the feeders yesterday! I've only seen hooded warblers once before: a small group traveling south last fall. Males of this species can be distinguished from females by the black band around their face, which resembles a hood! Females can look much like other warblers such as Pine Warblers (Setophaga pinus). They can be distinguished from male pine warblers by their olive backs and easily distinguished from the brown females by color!

Ruby-crowned Kinglet (Corthylio calendula), taken February 10, 2025, in Georgia, US

The "king" part of this bird's name has certainly gone to their heads. I've seen these little guys pick on some pretty big birds, with notable success. It pays to be little and mean in the bird world!

Common Buckeye (Junonia coenia), taken April 24, 2025, in Georgia, US

What I believe is my first butterfly of the year, at least that I've been able to photograph! I saw what I think was a Blue Morpho in early, early spring, before almost anything was awake, but it flew off before I could get a picture. Since then, it's been some skippers and a few Tiger Swallowtails, but never when I have my camera on me! This guy was touched down because of a storm. I went out right after the rain, when many flying insects are still reluctant to fly, and was able to get a couple decent pictures!

House Finch (Haemorhous mexicanus), female, taken April 30, 2025, in Georgia, US

Miss Finch getting a refreshing sip of the newly-replaced bird bath water! Her husband was waiting in an adjacent tree, and they flew off together afterwards. Either they or another house finch pair returned later with 2 babies which sat on the feeder and screamed while their parents got food. It is officially time for babies to leave the nest!

Leaf Beetle (Sumitrosis inaequalis), taken April 19, 2025, in Georgia, US

A little leaf beetle! These guys are quite interesting and from afar look like weevils because of their pattern. Adult leaf beetles lay their eggs inside the leaves of host plants. Larvae then hatch and "mine" their way through the interior layers of the leaf, forming a pale, dried trail throughout the leaf. Larvae then pupate and, upon emergence, chew their way out of the leaf and fly away in search of a mate!

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!

Marbled Oak Dagger (Acronicta marmorata) + wing detail closeups

Scarlet-bordered Assassin Bug (Rhiginia cruciata), taken April 25, 2025, in Georgia, US

A bit of an interesting lifer! I've been seeing these guys flying around me, but they either would never land or would spook too fast to get a good look. Fortunately, this guy landed right in front of me and politely stood still while I did my best to get pictures as the sun glared onto my camera display and made it impossible to tell if my image was in focus or not (horrific). This species is part of a subfamily referred to as millipede assassin bugs which, as the name would imply, exclusively prey on millipedes. They have evolved to specialize in hunting millipedes, possessing unique venom, mouthparts, and other physical features that allow them an advantage over other predators when hunting them. They're quite interesting, and may be the culprits of some millipede husks you find while digging through leaflitter!

Green Anole (Anolis carolinensis), juvenile female, taken September 22, 2024, in Georgia, US

I had the pleasure of seeing this baby anole for a week or so straight! She had taken shelter in a sturdy pile of sticks and leaves on my usual route and would always run for cover when I came by. This day, however, she graced me with her presence and cooperation.