Smoky-winged Dancer (Argia Fumipennis Ssp. Fumipennis), Teneral Female, Taken May 6, 2025, In Georgia,

if you do not live in the uk or north america it is your legal obligation to download inaturalist and start uploading. please everyone who uses it is in north america or the uk we need obs that arent here

the ant people are the only ones on inaturalist that consistently use the "favorites" button. unfortunately the rest of us don't know their secrets so there will be like, dozens of faves on a picture of an ant and i am like why is the ant so special. teach us to see the beauty of the ant.

Velvetbean Caterpillar Moth (Anticarsia gemmatalis), taken September 28, 2024, in Georgia, US

Aside from Renia moths, these are some of the most common lepidopteran inhabitants of the leaflitter in my back woods! They're terrible to photograph because they startle when leaves crunch near them, so I always have to creep up on them really slowly. Even then, it sometimes takes several minutes for me to finally catch one! Despite their drab coloration, I still find them quite beautiful. They're perfectly made for forest floor life!

Humpbacked Orbweaver (Eustala anastera), female, taken May 8, 2025, in Georgia, US

Some shots of a beautiful wild diamond... I intercepted her as she tried to web her way to the ground and placed her on a fallen tree in an attempt to get photos. Luckily for me, she curled up instead of running away! This spider is quite variable, some being brown like this and others having a coloration similar to lichen!

Red-shouldered Hawks (Buteo lineatus), adult (top) and juvenile (bottom), taken March 7, 2025, in Georgia, US

More hawk news... It seems as though one of the juveniles was able to chase the other out of this area and has staked a claim on the woods here. I've been seeing the red-tailed hawks less, and today the victorious juvenile showed up with a partner who already has adult plumage! I haven't seen adults here in at least a couple years, so this is a good sign that these two will be nesting this spring. It's fairly unusual for a hawk without adult plumage to be breeding, but definitely not unheard of and can still result in a successful brood!

The adult hawk was not happy with me taking pictures and flew to a further branch when I went outside. As usual, the juvenile was much more tolerant of my presence (likely used to my dumb ass at this point) and let me get closer before the adult called for it. It then joined the adult in a tree where they began calling together. Hopefully they nest somewhere close enough that I can monitor their progress. I'd love to see their babies once they fledge!

Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura), taken April 1, 2025, in Georgia, US

Preening time! This dove sat and preened vigorously for several minutes, likely staying pretty for his partner! I love seeing the doves all puffed up like this. The local pairs will often sit in the morning sun all puffed up and warming up for the day—their little morning date :)

My beloveds... a whole row of some of my favorite native inverts and, of course, robins.

iNaturalist reblog game: post your top 5 most observed species. i'll go first

Cedar Waxwing (Bombycilla cedrorum), taken March 9, 2025, in Georgia, US

A small flock of waxwings visited a couple days ago! They're very skittish, so it's hard to get any decent pictures, but even from far away they make nice subjects. When they stop by they usually ransack the holly tree in the yard, but the robins have already picked it clean, so they combed over the leftover seeds from the tulip trees and whatever else they could find instead. Late birds earn no berry snacks!

Oh!!! I love!! Hehe admiring his reflection..

Treehoppers are so hard to come by, for me at least. I have lots of 2 species in my area, and likely more, but they're just so rare as adults lol! Interestingly enough, when I don't have a camera on me, they come and land on me. They know what I want, and how to not give it to me :(

Oak Treehopper (Platycotis vittata), taken October 23, 2024, in Georgia, US

A beautiful, freshly-peeled treehopper! This was my first time seeing one of these guys in person, and their colors are just magnificent. This species has two main morphs: one with a horn on the pronotum (one of the segments on the back) and one without. It would have been nice to see a horn-morph individual, but this one is nice as well!

Non-Biting Midge (Xylotopus par), male, taken February 26, 2025, in Georgia, US

Despite how he looks, this guy is very much alive and flew off shortly after I took these pictures! I swiped him out of the sky and shook him around in my hand to stun him so I could get pictures, hence his totally shocked appearance.

This guy is one of the cousins of the arguably less friendly mosquito! I really enjoy photographing midges, but as I'm not super knowledgeable of them yet, I mostly rely on IDers (THE IDer in the case of this family) on iNat to point me in the right direction. One of the first things I learned is that males of this family can easily be differentiated from females by their long, thin abdomens and big, fuzzy antennae! This is also the case for mosquitos and most other nematoceran flies, though it can be very hard to tell when it comes to groups like crane flies, who can be more reliably sexed by their abdomen!