Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius Phoeniceus), Juvenile Male, Taken February 24, 2025, In Georgia, US

Eastern Pondhawk (Erythemis simplicicollis), female, taken June 29, 2024, in Georgia, US

I only have a small collection of dragonfly closeups, but they're some of my favorite pictures! When I took this one, this lady wasn't doing too hot. It had rained earlier in the day so she may have been tired, but she let me hold her and lift her onto a tree! This was taken before I gave her a hand, and you can see all of the little hairs on her body. Super neat!

Orchard Orbweaver (Leucauge venusta), juvenile, taken March 18, 2025, in Georgia, US

Behold, a spider belly! In even the smallest orchard orbweaver, the orange smiley on their abdomen is visible. This is diagnostic for the species, along with 3 stripes that run down their cephalothorax, one down the center and 2 on the margins, but that isn't visible here. Those markings allow you to differentiate the species from Joro Spiders, which look extremely similar as juveniles. A smiliar species, the Mabel Orchard Orbweaver (Leucauge argyrobapta), is often confused with this one but can be distinguished (if not by range) by its blue hues and larger, more yellow smiley. This is only the case for some individuals, though, as females of the species are nearly identical and males can only be distinguished by the shape of their palps. Both are beautiful regardless!

Buffalo Treehopper (Stictocephala militaris), nymph, taken May 14, 2025, in Georgia, US

What a wicked-looking treehopper nymph! I see lots of these guys when they're very small, but this is my first time seeing a large nymph of this species, and I was certainly not disappointed! He was an excellent subject as well, sitting completely still even as I manhandled the vine he was sitting on for a better angle. The adults of this genus, like most treehoppers, look unrecognizable next to their nymphs. All of the spikes disappear, and what is left is a smooth, teardrop-shaped green hopper with clear wings and two red horns on either side of its head, kind of like a buffalo as the name would imply!

Eastern Chipmunks (Tamias striatus), taken May 27, 2024, in Georgia, US

The chipmunks here have a deep and sophisticated network of tunnels spanning all around my house. They could be anywhere, at any time. Sometimes this means lots of good pictures! Other times this means seeing stripped corn cobs from the squirrel feeder 100ft out back in my front yard and knowing who did it.

Tube-dwelling Spider (Ariadna bicolor), female, taken March 18, 2025, in Georgia, US

Well, good news is that she definitely is living in a tube! Bad news is that it is no longer inside the log she was in, but instead on the chunk of wood I ripped off the log. This provides and excellent view of the nest structure, but doesn't serve very well as a home anymore. I put the wood chunk back as well as I could, but whether it was good enough is still up in the air!

Shore Spiders (Pardosa milvina), male (left) and female (right), taken July 3, 2024, in Georgia, US

I only discovered after I was sorting through my photos from this trip that I had coincidentally gotten a male and female of this species in the exact same position, which helps emphasize their differences. You can see the difference in coloration, abdomen size, and palp size pretty well! This species is everywhere where I am, and they're especially prevalent on the shore of the creek, as their name suggests!

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!

Gray Catbirds (Dumetella carolinensis), taken April 27, 2024, in Georgia, US

Catbirds, I feel, are inherently chaotic birds. They always bring the party to the feeders when they bring the year's fledgelings! They also sound like fucked up little kittens. So there's that. But I always enjoy seeing them! They're pretty brave and always arrive in groups so there's lots of photo opportunities, which I of course appreciate.

Two-lined Leatherwing (Atalantycha bilineata), taken April 2, 2025, in Georgia, US

Look at the size difference between them! By far not the largest I've ever seen, but the male is still only about 1/3 of the female's size! A size difference about this large is pretty typical for soldier beetles, though many other kinds of beetles have little to no size difference at all. For all of the individuals of this species I've been seeing around (hundreds), this is the first time I've seen a mating pair!

Drab Prominent (Misogada unicolor) larvae, taken August 21, 2023, in Georgia, US

Circles!! Curling up into a ball is this caterpillar's main defense mechanism, which doesn't really work well on humans... I find their patterns quite pretty, and they have lots of individual variation! They get their common (and scientific) name from their adult form, which is an almost patternless light beige.