Another brown butterfly with eyes, this one in a different tribe in the brush-footed family (think fox-like Vulupini versus wolf-like Canini in the dog family).
2022-09-11 Darien, GA
Very much like the pearly-eye (#447) but the spots are slightly different. It is even closer to the eyed brown but the "wet woodland" setting suggests L. appalachia instead. They are becoming more common in Massachusetts while the eyed brown populations are declining, presumably as the temperature warms.
2022-09-10 Occoquan Bay NWR, Woodbridge, VA
... because of the stripes and the long wings? This is a warm weather butterfly ranging from Peru to the Gulf states. Given a cold frost it can take years for the them to work their way back up to Georgia.[1] It is sitting on white beggartick (Bidens alba). From Florida native plant society: "Once you have this plant you will always have this plant. It is quite weedy."[2] Which is good because the butterflies love it and it is everywhere.
2022-09-11 Darien, GA
Sampling from a trailing fuzzy-bean flower, Strophostyles helvola. You can see a hint of colour on this guy's upperside wing. Like the eastern tailed-blue (#93) and others, the male sports a blue top while the females wear dark brown or black.
2022-09-11 Tybee Island, Savannah, GA
The eye spots are good for detering/deflecting predators and for attracting mates. They appeared once in the family Nymphalidae about 90 MYA and evolved into myriad forms. Various moth families have evolved eyespots independently so they must provide a significant survival advantage. DOI:10.1146/annurev-ento-010814-020942
2022-09-11 Hutchinson Is, Savannah, GA
Another brush-footed butterfly (1 in 3 species), this one with all four legs visible. Its bright colours tell us its packing, in this case a chemical cocktail that it sprays when birds get too near.
2022-09-11 Darien, GA
Unlike the dead-leaf look when its wings are closed, the open wing shows much brighter colours with a lovely white outline. This butterfly was slowly opening and closing its wings, perhaps for thermoregulation or perhaps for signalling.
2022-09-10 Occoquan Bay NWR, Woodbridge, VA
Butterflies in the genus Polygonia (many-angled) are called "angle-wings" for their jaggy wings; they are also called "commas" for the white crescent mark on the wing. This butterfly has an additional white dot, so by extension it is called a question mark. Like the white peacock, the question mark is a member of the brush-footed butterflies, who have their front pair of legs modified into small brushes, leaving only four legs for perching and walking.
2022-09-10 Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Woodbridge, VA
Common year around in Florida and south to Argentina, they have been spotted as far north as Michigan in the summer.
2022-09-13 Palm Hammock Trail, Merritt Is, FL
Classic beach town architecture with surf shops and ice cream vendors in the distance, as seen from shih tzu eye level.
Wandering along the road without a care in the world, this critter looked much bigger than I expected. I suppose that comes from only seeing them crouching or flattened before.
A native of North America, they are invasive in Japan. This is a case of anime gone wild. The popular "Rascal the Raccoon" anime series from 1977 featured a pet raccoon and soon thousands were imported into Japan. But raccoons are not good pets, and many were released into the wild, establishing a population covering most of Japan. They are also invasive in Europe, where raccoons imported for the fur trade or for pets but were released.
[1] E. Grundhauser (2017). It's the 40th anniversary of the raccoon that ate Japan. Atlas obscura.
[2] JE Hausheer (2019). Seven US Species Invading Other Countries. Nature Conservancy blog.
Broad snout, so it's an alligator. South Florida also has native crocodiles which are bigger, lighter coloured and have a narrow snout.
2022-09-17 Big Cypress National Preserve, FL
Another non-native species, this one an invited guest of the cane farmers who brought them in from the Bahamas to control insects. They do help to control the non-native brown anole population so their impact is neutral (the browns have already chased the greens into the trees). I'm surprised they weren't already native. The lizards are tiny and the distances are small (~150 km); you would think that some "pregnant" female would hitch a ride on a tree limb during a storm. Instead it appears that island hopping is rare. Instead, convergent evolution has led to similar looking species on the different islands of the Greater Antilles (Cuba, Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, Jamaica).[1] A number of species occur on Cuba and Bahamas, but these were only separated by the Old Bahamas Strait, which was 20 km wide during the depth of the last ice age.
[1] DOI:10.1126/science.1232392
So called because they dig big burrows in sandy soil. They are considered a keystone species, with their abandoned burrows providing homes for hundreds of species.
2022-09-13 Scrub Ridge Trail, Merritt Island, FL
Polymorphic? This is a red-headed female with minimal patterning on her back. When present, the patterns can vary between diamonds and chevrons, depending on pigment cell diffusion rates during prenatal development (perhaps controlled by estrogen, or at least activated when estrogen is active due to proximity on the genome).[1] They are even polymorphic within individuals, who can change from light tan to dark brown due to stress or cold.
[1] https://www.anoleannals.org/2022/04/18/dorsal-pattern-formation-in-anolis-lizards/
Dimorphic! Unlike the female with her white dorsal stripe in #449 this guy has a bright orange dewlap, which he's extended to let me know that I'm in his space. Males are a bit bigger as well, but you don't see that in photos of individuals.
2022-09-16 Indian River Lagoon Park, New Smyrna Beach, FL
First introduced from Cuba in the late 1800's these little guys are now everywhere! Or at least it seems so. They don't mind disturbed habitats infested by humans so we see them more than the shy native green anole.
2022-09-12 New Smyrna Beach, FL
A jogger getting some exercise before the heat of the day; morning thunderheads in the distance feeding on the warm waters of the Gulf Stream.
2022-09-13 New Smyrna Beach, FL
Forest dwellers living in the shadows, they are in fact party animals. The males hang out on trees feeding on a yeasty froth of tree sap, waiting for females to come by to feed, then they retreat to the grass where the female lays her eggs.[1,2] Species Lethe anthedon, meaning a nymph of the river of forgetfulness, where I presume beer flows like water.
2022-08-06 Huntley Meadows Park, Alexandria, VA
[1] HS Horn (2021). "Social Butterflies". DOI:10.2307/j.ctv1g13jwt.11
[2] https://education.mdc.mo.gov/discover-nature/field-guide/northern-pearly-eye
A pair of small frogs on a very big leaf but I don't know if they are a couple. Females are on average a little larger but there is a lot of overlap (32-54 mm vs 25-50 mm respectively). Pet stores can only guess at the sex. Although they are more look than touch, they can provide up to six years of companionship.
2022-08-06 Huntley Meadows Park, Alexandria, VA
Asclepias tuberosa is a member of the milkweed family, and as such it produces cardenolide steroids. These are toxic to most vertebrates (they mess with the enzymes the sodium/potassium gradient in cell membranes, interfering with nerve transmission and causing heart attacks), so caterpillars feed on the leaves, accumulating poison in their bodies. As butterflies, birds quickly learn they don't like the taste. The steroid levels are low in A. tuberosa so it is not as popular with the monarchs as other milkweed species, but it'll do in a pinch.
2022-06-05 Kingsman and Heritage Islands Park, DC
A third sharpshooter, this one basking in the glow of my "light trap" (the frosted glass on our outdoor light fixture). There are a couple of dozen sharpshooters in our area, so called because they spit the excess water they suck from the plants out their behinds (video here).
2022-09-02 Bethesda, MD
Another sharpshooter, this one half the size (6 mm). Like the broad-headed sharpshooter, it is a vector for Xylella fastidiosa bacteria which causes Pierce's disease in grapes (shrivelled fruit, scorching and dropped leaves).
2022-07-30 Bethesda, MD
A large beastie (1.2 cm) this guy grazes on leaves, sucking out their juices. It's quite different from the nymph (#261).
2022-05-28 NIH Pond, Bethesda, MD
Another mosquito eater (yay!), this one serving in Cabin John Creek. With a bit of glittery thread and peacock feather you can tie your own ebony jewelwing fly.
2022-07-30 Locust Grove Nature Center, Bethesda, MD
A "white miller" is a kind of trout fly which mimics adult Nectopsyche caddisflies (usually the all-white N. albida, not the N. exquisita shown here). Like mayflies and mosquitoes, caddisfly larva grow up in water. Fish like to eat the adults when they are laying their egg, so in the breeding season they may be tricked by the lure. As they are growing, the larva build themselves a protective tube out of bit of stone and shell. The artist Hubert Duprat uses this to make jewelry by raising larva in tanks with flakes of gold and bits of precious stone.
2022-07-30 Bethesda, MD
Floating on the creek surface searching for mosquito larva, or maybe an insect that falls in the water. Water striders can float for days even with significant weight on their backs. Females carry the males around for up to 12 hours during mating. That does make them more visible and less maneuverable, which is good for the frogs.
2022-07-30 Locust Grove Nature Center, Bethesda, MD
Fairbairn (2009) Costs of loading associated with mate carrying in the water strider, Aquarius remigis. DOI:10.1093/beheco/4.3.224
A female preparing her nest. Although nominally monogamous, checking genetics showed 15% of females raising chicks from other mothers. This may be because there are not enough nesting sites to go around, so sometimes a female will lay in another nest. DOI:10.1007/BF00299374
2022-07-10 John James Audubon Center, Audubon PA
A bluebird near (but not on) a golf course, where reproductive success is slightly lower, perhaps directly from the chemical herbicides, pesticides and fertilizer, or perhaps indirectly due to fewer arthropods in the impoverished environment.
2022-06-19 Algonkian Regional Park, Sterling, VA
Planted as an ornamental tree for its flowers, it is an underrated hardwood with resistance to decay and little shrinkage. I'm not sure if this is the northern or southern variety.
2022-05-28 NIH Pond, Bethesda, MD