[Life] 🌳 Paradise: The Nature Club

[icycatelf]

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

Some species only occur in certain parts of the world. Even some animals that occur in a state may only occur in certain parts of that state. (For example, I would love to find a Western Mud Snake here, but those only occur in the far western part of my state.) Based on your location, I would guess that your buddy is a Baja California Treefrog.

That's pretty cute, tbh. Glad it can get out fine!

 

[spottedfirestar]

Some species only occur in certain parts of the world. Even some animals that occur in a state may only occur in certain parts of that state. (For example, I would love to find a Western Mud Snake here, but those only occur in the far western part of my state.) Based on your location, I would guess that your buddy is a Baja California Treefrog.

That's pretty cute, tbh. Glad it can get out fine!

Oh yeah no, I totally get that! I just live in a place where oddities happen, but the Baja California Treefrog sure looks like him!

Our frog there ended up finding himself a girlfriend though, so we had to catch them and move both of them out to the grove stream, so we wouldn't have any issues if they decided to you know...lay eggs in the sink pipes <-<;;

 

[icycatelf]

Not a newbie, but hey, first sphingid of the year! Snowberry Clearwing, aka the Bumblebee Moth:

 

[ElBurrito]

Thought about making a showcase thread for my photos but this looks like it'd be a better place to gradually share them over time.

Name: ElBurrito
The grass or bug-type Pokémon that represents you: Scyther
The plant you will raise: Saguaro Cactus
Your favourite bugs/insects/arthropods: Scorpions and Mantids

Here's some Prairie King Snakes I stumbled onto while fishing one day. I was just sitting on some rocks and noticed a snake poking out near my foot, then knelt down to find that I was sitting above a whole nest of them.

Multiple babies scouting the area

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Two of them questioning if I'm safe

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Two that just wanted to sleep

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And then two that decided to say hi

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This one was the friendliest

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And then here's mama snake. Fun Fact: She bit me shortly after this photo was taken. Didn't hurt though, she barely broke the skin.

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[icycatelf]

I wasn't able to capture the colors as well as I would've liked, but yesterday I got one of the moths I'd been wanting for a while: a Dogwood Thyatirid Moth! Love that pink shading.

*snip*

Precious babies! Thanks for sharing!

I've yet to get bitten by any snake and hopefully I can keep it that way. Copperheads are the main thing we've got to watch out for here and I've luckily never stumbled across one during my excursions. I went YEARS without encountering any snakes at all, but these last couple years I've found Black Racers, Brownsnakes, Northern Watersnakes, a Ringneck Snake, and a Rough Greensnake.

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[VisionofMilotic]

We had this gorgeousness in my front yard for our March. The petals have fallen away now with the heavy rains shaking them off, and the season changing. But I preserved this moment in time happily.

 

[Starlight]

Nature is my thing, so I'd love to join!

Name: Ash Ketchup
The grass or bug-type Pokémon that represents you: Bellossom
The plant you will raise: A Prunus Kanzan Cherry Tree :)
Your favourite bugs/insects/arthropods: Ones in my country that I like include Butterflies / Moths, Dragonflies / Damselflies, Beetles, and I have a major soft spot for Bees :)


I found this girl in my garden, she was very large for an April bug here in the UK!

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It seems she is a female Orange-striped Stonefly. You can tell she's female by the full length wings. It was thought that British Orange-striped stoneflies were Perlodes microcephalus, as they are on mainland Europe, but they've recently been reclassified as a distinct species - Perlodes mortoni.


Is this club for all nature now or just plants and bugs?

 

[icycatelf]

Is this club for all nature now or just plants and bugs?

All natural life is allowed now! :D

Welcome to the group!

 

[Starlight]

Thank you!

And Happy Earth Day everyone 😊

 

[VisionofMilotic]

I noticed that we had an especially striking moon last night, so big, round and crystal clear. I felt compelled to find out more about phases of our moon after I stood hypnotized for a moment. I'm glad I did, because something else came to my attention.

Tonight the moon will not be just any full moon, it'll be a super moon. It's called the pink moon, though I hear it's more of a peach color-- it still sounds like a dazzling spectacle.

Supermoons are said to appear 7% bigger, and 15% brighter than a full moon usually appears. This will be our first super moon of the year, and will light up the sky tonight at 11:33 pm ET, if you care to watch the stars this evening.

https://abcnews.go.com/US/pink-moon-1st-supermoon-2021/story?id=77301726

I read in the Farmer Almanac that the pink moon is named after the herb moss pink, sometimes creeping phlox, moss phlox, or mountain phlox, which is native to the United States, where I live.

The Native Americans had awesome names for this moon, referencing the emergence of spring flowers, the snows melting and animals that appeared around the time of the moon. This is copied straight out of the Almanac, and some of the names are the Breaking Ice Moon (Algonquin) and Moon When the Streams Are Again Navigable (Dakota) When the Ducks Come Back (Lakota), Moon When the Geese Lay Eggs (Dakota), and Frog Moon (Cree) Budding Moon of Plants and Shrubs (Tlingit) and Moon of the Red Grass Appearing (Oglala). Another name was the Sucker Moon (Anishinaabe) because the sucker fish came to the streams to to spawn.

I saw on NASA this morning this moon for Eastern Christianity would be the full Moon right before Easter, and is called the Paschal Moon. The Eastern Orthodox Church uses a Julian calendar

Happy Hanuman Jayanti also to my Hindu friends! The moon marks the celebration of Lord Hanuman. Hindu lunar month of Chaitra is Tuesday, April 27, 2021. This full moon also heralds Bak Poya for many Buddhists, especially in Sri Lanka.

I know that I'm getting long-winded, just yo say I will be watching the sky tonight, but I found it all so interesting to learn about, and I think appropriate to share with the nature club.

Just in case you miss the moon tonight, there will be a second super moon on May 26th to look out for! It's called the flower moon.

 

[Starlight]

Has anyone taken any lovely Sakura pics yet this season?

Asking for a friend :)

 

[icycatelf]

Phengodes sp., a glowworm beetle

Males of this genus trade their bioluminescence for wings and an impressive pair of feather-like antennae.

 

[Starlight]

Phengodes sp., a glowworm beetle

Males of this genus trade their bioluminescence for wings and an impressive pair of feather-like antennae.

Those antennae are absolutely sublime!!!

 

[icycatelf]

Locust Underwing from last night. I got one before, but this one is fresher.

Those antennae are absolutely sublime!!!

Striking for sure! I wonder if we'll ever get a Burmy-esque line based on the life cycle of a glowworm beetle?

 

[Starlight]

I took a drive on the way home yesterday and seen all kinds of stuff!

First I went to visit my favourite cherry tree, it has always been at peak bloom around my birthday, no matter what all the nearby ones were doing.

All I found was a freshly sawn stump. I have visited it for years, I am heartbroken 😭😭😭


I then went and visited several others, but all were a little past their peak unfortunately. Still mesmerising though!

I also seen some amazing rhododendrons, all kinds of glorious trees, and a ton of amazing wildlife, the highlight of which was some wild goats up a very remote forest track! They are very rare here in the UK, I've only seen one before. This time I seen 3! A Sighting of two and also a lone male deep amongst the trees!

Here's a couple of phone pics:

One of the cherries

This magnificent rhododendron wasn't even the biggest I seen!

The two wild goats

The single one was deep in the trees near here

 

[icycatelf]

Horrible pic, but I found a Sandshrew!

Did you know that some shrews, including the Northern Short-Tailed Shrew pictured here, are venomous? Might explain why Sandshrew can learn Poison Sting.

All I found was a freshly sawn stump. I have visited it for years, I am heartbroken

Oh no!

Love the wild Gogoats!

 

[icycatelf]

I'd previously posted a ground beetle that eats snails in my RealDex thread for Karrablast/Escavalier, but I recently found a proper "snail-eating beetle" that would be closer. Andrew's Snail-Eating Beetle, I believe. (The blue was more vibrant in-person.)

More things I've found over the last few days:

Eastern Newt larva

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Ichneumonid wasp (Rhyssa sp.)

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Soldier fly (Odontomyia cincta)

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Red Salamander, juvenile

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Robinson's Pelochrista Moth

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Pharaoh Cicada

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Great Spangled Fritillary caterpillar getting ready to pupate

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[icycatelf]

Found a scoopwing moth the other day but my flash spooked it and it flew away before I could get a shot. I was so disappointed! Got a different newbie last night, though: a Salt Marsh Moth. It was so restless that I was afraid I was going to miss it too!

A few more notable recent things:

A strikingly pale Pickerel Frog

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Kakuna?

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Nah, it's a darkling beetle pupa.

Iron-Lined Olethreutes

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A close relative of the much cooler named "The Astronomer." Check out those metallic silver scales!

American Bird's Wing

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Goldcap Moss-Eater Moth and a friend

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Sparkly!

Midland Clubtail

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Pseudoscorpion

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Not a newbie, just a better pic. These guys are sooo tiny!

 

[Starlight]

Found a scoopwing moth the other day but my flash spooked it and it flew away before I could get a shot. I was so disappointed! Got a different newbie last night, though, a Salt Marsh Moth. It was so restless that I was afraid I was going to miss it, too!

A few more notable recent things:

A strikingly pale Pickerel Frog

Spoiler:

Kakuna?

Spoiler:

Nah, it's a darkling beetle pupa.

Iron-Lined Olethreutes

Spoiler:

A close relative of the much cooler named "The Astronomer." Check out those metallic silver scales!

American Bird's Wing

Spoiler:

Goldcap Moss-Eater Moth and a friend

Spoiler:

Sparkly!

Midland Clubtail

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Pseudoscorpion

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Not a newbie, just a better pic. These guys are sooo tiny!

Those are all so beautiful! Thank you for sharing them :)

And yes... definitely a wild Kakuna!

 

[AMP017]

Can I talk here and stuff even if I don't go out and take photos of nature? That's just not really what I like to do, however I do love nature.