[Life] 🌳 Paradise: The Nature Club

I love those sweet old traditions about bees! They're such delightful creatures and I always talk to any of the bees who happen to stop by the garden, and I place the "drunk" ones somewhere safe so they aren't eaten or stepped on!

I realise that I although I informed the staff of being a bit absent, I forgot to mention it here. Three of my pets are sick, you see, so I haven't had the motivation to post or fix up the club. I hope you all will feel free to create new topics and share new discoveries!

VisionofMilotic said:

For instance it was believed in days of old in Britain and Scotland that the soul could leave the body in the form of a bee.

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This one reminds me of a particular moth: the Black Witch. In Hawaii, if this large moth visits your home after a loved one has died, it's believed to be that person's soul returning to say goodbye.

Anyway, thanks for sharing these neat bee myths!

Hyzenthlay said:

I realise that I although I informed the staff of being a bit absent, I forgot to mention it here. Three of my pets are sick, you see, so I haven't had the motivation to post or fix up the club. I hope you all will feel free to create new topics and share new discoveries!

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I hope you furbabies get better soon! It can be scary when your pets are sick. :(

Welp, haven't shared any pics for a little under a month now so here are a few more of my past finds!

Case-bearing leaf beetle larva

Jagged Ambush Bug

Jack-in-the-Pulpit

Parasitoid wasp cocoon

A bee?

I got a letter recently from The Nature Conservancy, asking to help support their efforts to preserve the bat population. These little guys are disappearing by the millions I read, and entire colonies are collapsing. North American bats facing an epidemic called white-nose syndrome that's driving some bat species to the point of extinction. It's the result of an invasive species of fungus that's not native to the continent. When it grows in caves it damages their wings and it also affects their metabolism so they come out hibernation too early in the winter and starve.

It's sad because it doesn't have to happen, and bats are not only cool and interesting, but they also play an important role in our eco system, for controlling the mosquito population and pollinating our plants. I think I'm going to become a member. I just donated to help the real crobats of our world.

edited: This is some interesting reading that I thought was worth including. Here are some fun facts about our nocturnal, flying friends from the Tennessee Working Bat Group.

http://www.tnbwg.org/TNBWG_bat facts.html

I LOVE and fully respect Mother Nature ~
I'm all for being eco-friendly, cruelty-free and live sustainable as possible. I have yet to figure out if I'm a vegetarian or vegan yet though I barely eat meat for the past 3 years now, so even though I strongly dislike being labeled I'm currently a Flexitraian. I hope I may join this group and I'll show some of my nature photos I took if I may post them here to to share with everyone.
*.⋆( ˘̴͈́ ॢ꒵ॢ ˘̴͈̀ )⋆.*

You know I'm a farmer, who works in the family grove, and also has a family garden so this is just right up my alley!

Name: Spoots
The grass or bug-type Pokémon that represents you: Turtwig please!
The plant you will raise: Poppies!
Your favourite bugs/insects/arthropods: I love the caterpillars and baby mantises we get!

Temperatures are starting to go up here. I still haven't been able to spot much of anything, but I did find this pair of Wood Frogs the other day. Check out that sexual dimorphism!



If Wood Frogs were Pokémon, I think they'd be Ice-type. They're the only species of frog known to occur above the Arctic Circle and their bodies freeze solid during the winter!

icycatelf said:

Temperatures are starting to go up here. I still haven't been able to spot much of anything, but I did find this pair of Wood Frogs the other day. Check out that sexual dimorphism!

Spoiler:

If Wood Frogs were Pokémon, I think they'd be Ice-type. They're the only species of frog known to occur above the Arctic Circle and their bodies freeze solid during the winter!

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Oh! They look like so much fun!

Reminds me that we have a frog living in the sink here, maybe I can capture a picture of him, if he's still there!

What the what!? I found this last April but, assuming it was another one of those little azure butterflies I'm never able to catch with open wings, never bothered uploading it. Just realized yesterday that it was actually moth—a Bluish Spring Moth! One more for my moth catalogue!



Also found this handsome Ichneumon ambulatorius (female), a small parasitic ichneumon wasp whose larvae feed on armyworms and cutworms, a couple days ago.

spottedfirestar said:

Reminds me that we have a frog living in the sink here, maybe I can capture a picture of him, if he's still there!

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Was he still there?

I wanted to share some of my nature photos I took from last year. I'm not the best photographer, though I do love taking pictures occasionally of nature things as well animals.

Eleanor said:

Uh... this is awkward, because I really did just join and disappear for so long... 😨

I don't have too much to show aside from some nice moments from 2020, which include visiting one of my favorite Botanical Gardens during the summer (for the... I've lost count, I've been there so often), and posting a pic of a cute friend I found in my garden some time ago...

---

I see the last question was about birdlife? Well! I'm not the best with it, but I know the names of a few species!

Spoiler:

The most common of birds are without a doubt pigeons and doves, especially in cities. There's usually two kinds, the common pigeon and the collared dove:


Then, you can find common blackbirds, ducks in various rivers and ponds, or seagulls if you go closer towards the sea. There used to be many cute little sparrows around too, but they're very rare nowadays (I still saw an army of them in Trento, though, when I visited that city!)

During winter some of my favorites start to appear as well, though! And that is, herons! There's usually three kinds, one much smaller and with a little tuft behind the head (Garzetta), and two that are much larger, and either white (White heron) or ash (Grey heron). It's basically impossible for me to take good photos of these guys but they're very cool - and potentially scary if you don't expect them to rise up and take off! Speaking of larger birds, I've been one or two times to a reservoir that acted as a safe place for storks, and so I thought I'd better add them to the list as well~

In Spring, you can also hear the, uh... "Great tit" (thanks wikipedia), but I've always had a lot of trouble seeing one for real! Same goes for some pheasants, which as far as I know can still be hunted if you have a license.


All images are from Wikipedia... oops ;-;

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Oh wow thier such beautiful animal photos, they all look all so cute~! You did a truly wonderful job taking the photo shots, you have a good eye for photography I must say in my opinion. Keep up the wonderful work Eleanor dear you have talent~!

Leaf said:

Oh wow thier such beautiful animal photos, they all look all so cute~! You did a truly wonderful job taking the photo shots, you have a good eye for photography I must say in my opinion. Keep up the wonderful work Eleanor dear you have talent~!

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Oh nononono Leaf...

Those are all images from Wikipedia, the only one that I took myself was the picture of that hedgehog! And case in point, it's hiding the face right under that clover... oops!

Eleanor said:

Oh nononono Leaf...

Those are all images from Wikipedia, the only one that I took myself was the picture of that hedgehog! And case in point, it's hiding the face right under that clover... oops!

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Oh oops my bad reguagless the hedgehog picture I think was a good photo still.

Aw, thanks Leaf! That was still very kind of you 😍 But yeah, there's no way I could've taken all those photos and even took credit for them, hehe

Eleanor said:

Aw, thanks Leaf! That was still very kind of you 😍 But yeah, there's no way I could've taken all those photos and even took credit for them, hehe

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Very true and you're most welcome Eleanor~

icycatelf said:

Was he still there?

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Oh my gosh! I got busied up and this drifted to the back of my mind, but yes he is! Here he is:

Spoilers for big and long pics :0!



We're not entirely sure what he is, but we do know he eats the bugs near by, after the bats have flown out from the lights :0!

Some aquatic guys I've spotted over the past few days:

Eastern/Red-Spotted Newt (male)

Caddisfly larva

Spring Salamander larva

Spiketail dragonfly naiad

Dark fishfly larva

spottedfirestar said:

Oh my gosh! I got busied up and this drifted to the back of my mind, but yes he is!

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Would help to see more of the body and know your general location, but I think it's one of the chorus frogs (Pseudacris sp.). I'm certainly no expert in frogs, though! Hopefully it can eventually find its way out!

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EDIT: Another one for the Realdex—my first lamprey! I didn't know we had these here! :0





Eelektrik and Eelektross draw inspiration from lampreys (probably sea lampreys, to be more specific), as well as electric eels. Milotic's gill structure suggests that it too may draw some inspiration from lampreys (in addition to mermaids and possibly oarfish).

In Japan, lampreys are called "eight-eyed eels," referring to the seven round gill openings on either side of the animals, plus their actual eyes (how this doesn't make them sixteen-eyed eels, idk). Including the single nostril, they've also been referred to as "nine-eyed eels." Lampreys aren't related to actual eels, though.

Bloodsucking lampreys are more well-known, but this is a non-parasitic species. With a sole mission of reproduction, adult Least Brook Lampreys don't feed at all, only using their suction cup mouth to anchor themselves to stones and move rocks when constructing a nest. Worm-like larvae, called ammocoetes, spend 3-7 years buried in sediment, consuming microorganisms and decaying matter.

icycatelf said:

Would help to see more of the body and know your general location, but I think it's one of the chorus frogs (Pseudacris sp.). I'm certainly no expert in frogs, though! Hopefully it can eventually find its way out!

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I live in socal, but honestly I don't think location matters too much? We have a grove here, and some of the plants prior have carried over some interesting creatures, like we have coqui frogs that hitched a ride on some plants previous to us living here lol!

And not to worry, he can get out perfectly fine! He comes out sometimes to eat, and then just crawls back into the sink pipe, it's his preferred place for some reason :0