Animal Log of your native fauna

[Advicot]

I was planting trees yesterday (6 Norway maples, yes I have an obsession over this species, 1 white poplar and 1 balsam poplar) and it was my first time back to my father's in maybe a month. I was clearing the grass for my trees and a little erithacus rubecula enjoyed the worms. Both my late grandparents are remembered as this species so it's always nice to see one. 

Not to mention there was a cuckoo somewhere in my woodland, and the resident cock golden pheasant was in the garden this morning waiting at the conservatory doors for his morning grain.

[bmathison1972]

Just got done birding; I only hit up 2 of the 3 places I intended (the third is a place I have visited several times already).

First up, Wasatch Hollow Park. 21 species; 2 lifers (*):
mallard (including very young ducklings)
California quail
rock dove
Eurasian collared dove
mourning dove
hummingbird, sp. (either black-chinned or broad-tailed; the latter would have been a lifer)
downy woodpecker
northern flicker
warbling vireo
American crow
black-capped chickadee
northern rough-winged swallow
European starling
American robin
lesser goldfinch
house finch
spotted towhee
green-tailed towhee*
Wilson's warbler*
black-headed grosbeak (seen; I had documented it a couple nights ago via song)
Lazuli's bunting

Next I walked over to Miller Park/Miller Bird Refuge. It was a fairly dense creek, so I head more than I was able to see. One lifer (*):
downy woodpecker
black-capped chickadee
American robin
house finch
lesser goldfinch
Bullock's oriole*
yellow warbler
black-headed grosbeak (nest building!)

[Isidro]

Today I went to my garden in order to see the first blooming of a rare plant (yes I also collect rare plants). But then I was a bit tired of seeing everyday the same species, so I go about one hour in a wasteland that I found near my home. The wasteland is entirely covered by the grass Piptatherum miliaceum, as all terrains of my city that are left undisturbed for years (the climate doesn't allow trees to grow, except some scattered invasive tree-of-heaven). Also the so common wild mallows (Malva sylvestris) and the daisies Anacyclus clavatus, both plants very common in disturbed soils, plus very common Centaurea aspera and Phagnalon saxatile, both more associated with less disturbed terrains. I was surprised about Phagnalon, being very heliophile, being able to grow in so dense stands of Piptatherum that sade them. In few patches of concrete where Piptatherum leave free space, in some creeks grows more rupicolous plants such as Sedum album and Lactuca serriola.

This is the list of animals seen today, most of them in such wasteland:

Acrocephalus scirpaceus (only heard)
Anacridium aegyptium
Anthrenus pimpinellae
Aphaenogaster senilis
Armadillidium vulgare
Calliphora vicina
Cataglyphis iberica
Ciconia ciconia (white stork)
Columba livia (common pigeon)
Columba palumbus (wood pigeon)
Crematogaster auberti
Crematogaster scutellaris
Delichon urbica (house martin)
Deraeocoris ribauti (first since 2014)
Ecdyonurus venosus
Eobania vermiculata
Evergestis frumentalis (first since 2017)
Gonocephalum granulatum ssp. pusillum
Granopupa granum. Undoubtely the best species found! First alive ones in my live!! Saw 3 of them under a stone shared with an ant nest. My only previous sight of that species was an empty shell found in a natural area, so it surprised me to find this species in an urban area. Under same stone also an empty shell (so I don't list it) of Caracollina lenticula, a species I don't see very often.
Hirundo rustica (barn swallow)
Hyalopterus pruni
Macrosiphum rosae
Messor barbarus
Ommatoiulus rutilans
Omocestus raymondi (first since 2014)
Otala punctata
Oxythyrea funesta
Passer domesticus (house sparrow)
Pica pica (common magpie)
Plagiolepis pygmaea
Polistes dominula
Porcellionides pruinosus
Proatelurina pseudolepisma
Psilothrix viridicoerulea
Rhodanthidium sticticum
Rumina decollata
Scaurus punctatus (took a bunch of them for free them in my garden)
Scenopinus fenestralis (this one inside my home, same individual I'm seeing since a week ago)
Serinus serinus (common serin)
Spilostethus pandurus
Streptopelia decaocto (collared dove)
Sturnus unicolor (spotless starling)
Tapinoma nigerrimum
Thymelicus acteon
Turdus viscivorus (mistle thrush). Very tame one (as usual in this species) at 1 meter from me. I got a very nice photo, the only shame is the position of the head. I had not time for wait until he turn the head because a bike passed just then and scared the bird.
Tyta luctuosa
Xanthogaleruca luteola (adults and eggs)
Xerotricha conspurcata

On a side note, a larva of soldier fly that I caught last summer and saved in a terrarium in order to emerge the adult and identify the species, today I discovered it has emerged (too late, already dead). It was Stratiomys singularior.

[Advicot]

Your trip on the waste ground sounds wonderful, I always love waste ground as that is where nature has reclaimed a patch of urban life, and the levels of biodiversity are always great!

Interesting that you say that the turdus viscivorus in your city are very tame, ours are very wild indeed. However our turdus merula and turdus
philomelos are perfectly tame and are always common in the garden, which is no surprise.

On the topic of blackbirds and thrushes, there was a new male blackbird in the garden this morning before I left for school, and he was a piebald individual! That is my first piebald blackbird and I cannot describe the excitement I felt 

This year we decided to give 9 acres of the sheep fields to let it grow long and one field borders with our woodland near the house and all I can say is the amount of bluebells was astounding! My father remembers when he was a boy and the whole of 'the dip' (an old bomb hole from WW2) was covered in them, and it is to this day! 

[Isidro]

Some nice highlights today, besides the usual species like swifts, magpies, carpet beetles or paper wasps:

-A griffon vulture flied over my parent's garden, enough low as for seeing its colours.

-Almost everyday I hear a nightingale that have its territory in some trees aside of the road, if traffic allows to hear the sound. But today, I not only heard, but SAW it! It happens that I go out of my work still with daylight (something that very rarely happens except in full summer), and the bird chosen a dead elm, so the bare branches allowed to see the silhouette perfectly

-Second time in my life I see the beetle Oedemera barbara!!! Again a female like the first one.

-LIFER and a wished one, if I got my ID correct!!! The dock leaf beetle Gastrophysa viridula!!! Until now, I only saw in my life G. polygoni (red and blue), three times (one of them inside my flat!!), but the metallic green G. viridula is new for me. Presumably a male, or an unmated female. I think that there is no other possible candidate species.

I'm stranged that at that hour of the afternoon I didn't saw any bat. Usually the sky in my city is full of them. It's a bit worrying.
I arrived to home too early for hear the daily scops owl that lives in a park where I pass every day.

[bmathison1972]

Yesterday my friend from work and I did our annual 9-mile 'hike home from work'. We didn't see any mammals this year, and nothing out of the ordinary in terms of insects (the most common being the western swallowtail butterfly and the tenebrionid beetle Eleodes obscurus).

Here are the birds we saw:
black-billed magpie
house pinch
barn swallow
cliff swallow
mourning dove
turkey vulture
Cooper's hawk
American kestrel
western kingbird
Woodhouse's scrub jay
black-capped chickadee
Lazuli's bunting
common raven
American robin
spotted towhee
common pheasant (only audible, but a lifer for me!)
black-chinned hummingbird

[bmathison1972]

Today was a Bird-a-thon fundraiser for the Tracy Aviary. We did a birding trip up City Creek Canyon. I also did my own birding in the lower part of the canyon. Below is everything seen between the two trips (two parts of same canyon):

mallard
black-chinned hummingbird
turkey vulture
red-tailed hawk
Cooper's hawk
sharp-shinned hawk (lifer!)
mourning dove
downy woodpecker
northern flicker
plumbeous vireo
warbling vireo
Steller's jay
Woodhouse's scrub jay
common raven
black-billed magpie
black-capped chickadee
northern rough-winged swallow
barn swallow
American dipper
European starling
American robin
house sparrow
American goldfinch
lesser goldfinch
chipping sparrow
song sparrow
spotted towhee
yellow warbler
western tanager (lifer!)
Lazuli's bunting

[bmathison1972]

I went birding at Decker Lake yesterday and documented 24 species. I won't mention them all but I did get one lifer, Clark's grebe!

[Isidro]

Yesterday I saw a common kestrel, a white stork and the rabbits that live in certain wilded area (visible from a bridge) and that was seen almost everyday during March but entirely absent during April and almost whole May until yesterday. I saw two.

Today I saw three very interesting species:
1. just arriving to my workplace, a coworker caught my attention for get to a point... where a splendid centipede Scolopendra cingulata was walking. While very common in wild areas of my region, it's much rarer in urban or peri-urban areas like this one and I didn't saw none during whole last year.

2. In the garden of my parents where I passed briefly just for watering the plants, a female Amblyteles armatorius (a striking an beautiful member of ichneumon wasps) landed in the foliage. It's the second this year, but the previous to these two was seen as far as in 2015, and I only had 6 registered sights of the species in my life.

3. A precious female (much more colorful than males) of Anogcodes seladonius, landed on a leaf in my garden. Not seen one since 2014 and this is the first time I see one in my city (in fact, in any city).

[Gwangi]

I went birding at Decker Lake yesterday and documented 24 species. I won't mention them all but I did get one lifer, Clark's grebe!

How many species have you documented now?

[bmathison1972]

I went birding at Decker Lake yesterday and documented 24 species. I won't mention them all but I did get one lifer, Clark's grebe!

How many species have you documented now?

@Gwangi - my personal life list is at 140 species, nearly 80 of which are since I joined eBird in February 2021.

[Advicot]

That is a very good list indeed with 80 new bird species in 3/4 months. 

My life list would probably be around 140 - 180 species, however I do have a captive life list, which includes domestic and birds in zoos. This would definitely exceed 220 species 

In the coming days I will be visiting 2 zoos/safari parks near me, one being a small children's zoo with some species I need, and the other a big safari park which I am due a visit after 2 years of not going, and without taking photos 

I don't know if anyone would be interested but I thought I would share some of the species, many are very simple    I need in my archives:
African clawed frog, Harlequin rasbora, Tanuki, Common northern boa, Chaco owl, White backed vulture etc

[Gwangi]

I went birding at Decker Lake yesterday and documented 24 species. I won't mention them all but I did get one lifer, Clark's grebe!

How many species have you documented now?

@Gwangi - my personal life list is at 140 species, nearly 80 of which are since I joined eBird in February 2021.

Impressive. I started birding in 1999 and my list isn't much longer than that, I figured you would outpace me pretty quickly. I'm pretty casual about my birding, usually letting the birds come to me, so-to-speak.

[bmathison1972]

I went birding at Decker Lake yesterday and documented 24 species. I won't mention them all but I did get one lifer, Clark's grebe!

How many species have you documented now?

@Gwangi - my personal life list is at 140 species, nearly 80 of which are since I joined eBird in February 2021.

Impressive. I started birding in 1999 and my list isn't much longer than that, I figured you would outpace me pretty quickly. I'm pretty casual about my birding, usually letting the birds come to me, so-to-speak.

That was historically my approach, but in the last couple months I have done a 'birding' trip almost every weekend. You hit some of the water spots here and you can see 30-50 species. I haven't even hit some of the real hot spots (Lee Kay Ponds, north side of the Great Salt Lake). Tomorrow I think I am going back to Wasatch Hollow Park. It's really rich in bird activity. Not sure I'll document any lifers, although there are a couple warblers and flycatchers active now that would be new to me if I see them.

[Isidro]

Just a while ago I came back from a very brief field trip with my father (we go to catching green almonds). I saw the next species:

-Acontia lucida
-Adalia bipunctata
-Aphaenogaster senilis
-Apus apus (only in the city)
-Attagenus unicolor (at home)
-Bombus terrestris (a very small worker)
-Cataglyphis iberica
-Clogmia albipunctata (at home)
-Coccinella septempunctata
-Columba livia (only in the city)
-Columba palumbus
-Cryptocephalus rugicollis
-Delichon urbica
-Deraeocoris ribauti (always in Asteriscus spinosus)
-Deraeocoris ruber (two, both on almonds, not seen since 2015)
-Dixus clypeatus
-Enolmis userai
-Eobania vermiculata (1, estivating)
-Epistrophe eligans
-Eristalis tenax
-Eurydema ornata (1 adult in red phase, 1 nymph in "harlequin" phase)
-Euthycera cribrata
-Falco tinnunculus (one male, in the city)
-Forficula auricularia (several sparse females)
-Hippodamia variegata
-Homo sapiens (a plague, as everyday everywhere)
-Lachnaia pubescens
-Lachnaia tristigma
-Melanaphis donacis
-Oedemera barbara (a female)
-Oedemera flavipes
-Oedemera simplex
-Oxycarenus lavaterae
-Oxythyrea funesta
-Pararge aegeria (one, in the city)
-Passer domesticus
-Pica pica
-Pieris rapae
-Podagrica fuscicornis
-Pyrrhocoris apterus
-Scaurus punctatus
-Serinus serinus
-Sphaerophoria scripta (1 male)
-Sturnus unicolor (only in the city)
-Theba pisana (thousands, all already estivating)
-Thymelicus acteon (extremely abundant)
-Trichodes leucopsideus (a big one, covered in pollen)
-Tropidopola cylindrica (not seen since 2019 and previous one in 2013)
-Xylocopa violacea

-Unidentified aphids (mostly in brooms)
-Unidentified bees
-Unidentified Cernuella or Xerosecta sp.
-Unidentified Colletes sp.
-Unidentified Gasteruption sp. (long-oviscapt group)
-Unidentified green lacewing
-Unidentified Issidae nymphs (on Santolina flowers)
-Unidentified Messor sp. (soldiers with black head)
-Unidentified migdes
-Unidentified Mordellidae
-Unidentified Polistes sp.
-Unidentified Rhinophoridae
-Unidentified Sarcophaga sp.
-Unidentified Tachinidae (cf Hyperaea)
-Unidentified Tipula sp.

[Advicot]

Yesterday was a big day in terms of species cataloging as I surveyed every species of tree, shrub, grass, flower, insect, arachnid, bird, mammal and mollusk in the re-wilding 9 acres of my farm.

Some species highlights were:
Swallows (hirundo rustica). I observed eight in total
Nuthatches (sitta europaea),first ones of 2021 on our land. It was a pair who were nesting in a fagus sylvatica. I managed to peer into the nest 6 egg
The piebald turdus merula was in some long elymus repens, stuffing his beak with worms
The first anthocharis cardamines I have ever seen on our land, it was relishing on some alliaria petiolata
A beautiful grey morphed (!!!) strix aluco, I have never seen a grey morphed individual ever, not even in captivity. It was resting in the biggest fraxinus excelsior on our land.
And this left me very excited indeed, orchis mascula a real rarity around my area. It was near our pond, which dates back to the earliest map of the area from 1874. To be honest most of the mature trees appear on that old map, from the ones in our wood, the  trees that line the fences and the hedgrows. Making them at least 120 years old.

[Isidro]

I love nuthatches, they're absent from my climatic zone. Also I never saw a tawny owl in the wild.

Today I did the first true field trip of the year, so the list is longer than in the "urban-field" trips before. It's a nearby zone (so nearby that I went by bike) where I have been countless times in my life, and still new things appear from time to time. It have a magnific mosaic of habitats that allows a great biodiversity, being hot dry gypsy steppe in the upper parts, riverine forest in the lower parts and an anthropized zone with grass and trees in between. Today I and a very dear friend of mine passed the morning here.

This is the list of animals seen today:

-Acmaeodera crinita (1, I mistook it for a Melanophila acuminata until comparing photos at home)
-Acrotylus insubricus (1 individual missing a hind leg)
-Akis genei (roadkilled one only)
-Ameles spallanzania (only an egg-case, not empty)
-Anas platyrhynchos (in the city only, a small group flying)
-Anaspis fasciata (the flowers of Thapsia was covered in them)
-Antepipona cabrerai (identified a day later by an expert friend)
-Anthaxia hypomelaena (2 individuals in the same plant of Eryngium campestre. Not seen since 2018)
-Anthaxia lucia (I'm very keen on this species discovered just in 2006, and that I saw since 2007, being abundant)
-Apis mellifera (very abundant)
-Apus apus (very abundant)
-Ardea cinerea (in the city only, one flying while going to the place, other (or the same?) standing in the river when coming back from the place
-Aricia cramera (at least 1 secure sigthing, plus other flying polyommatines that may or may not be the same species)
-Armadillidium vulgare
-Armadillo officinalis (several under a stone, but absent from most other stones)
-Attagenus trifasciatus (1)
-Autographa gamma (1)
-Bombus terrestris (1 small worker)
-Calomicrus circumfusus (1)
-Camponotus cf. sylvaticus (and also the always present everywhere Camponotus cf. aethiops/foreli)
-Canis lupus (I count dogs as wildlife sightings if they're in field trips and unleashed)
-Cataglyphis iberica (including 3 queens with shedded wings, seeking for fundation of new ant nests)
-Ceraleptus gracilicornis (1, not seen the species since 2009!)
-Cercopis intermedia (1 resting in a house wall)
-Cerocoma schaefferi (a group concentrated in just 1 flowering bush of Santolina, being all the nearby Santolina empty of these beetles. Not seen since 2013!)
-Cettia cetti (only heard 1, not seen)
-Chrysolina americana
-Chrysolina haemoptera (1, in a dry artificial watercourse)
-Chrysoperla carnea
-Ciconia ciconia (3, in the nest, making the very special stork-sound that I love a lot (I don't know how is called in English, in Spanish is "crotorar")
-Clogmia albipunctata (at home)
-Coccinella septempunctata
-Colias crocea (1 flying far)
-Columba livia
-Columba palumbus
-Coniatus tamarisci (1, not sure on specific ID)
-Corizus hyoscyami (1, on a young tree-of-heaven leaf)
-Cornu aspersum (several young ones moving away as it rained the last night)
-Crematogaster scutellaris (1)
-CREOLEON LUGDUNENSIS (a very big individual of this antlion, being big neuropterans my favourite group of insects I was excited! Flying low aside of the path, I don't saw this species since 2014)
-Cryptocephalus octoguttatus (2, with the spots more yellowish than usual)
-CUCULUS CANORUS! (not seen, only heard). Never seen one in my life, and I don't hear one since 2016!
-Dasineura gleditsiae (galls only, several)
-Dasytes terminalis (1)
-Delichon urbica
-Deraeocoris punctum (1, not seen since 2005/2006!)
-Ectopsocus briggsi (1)
-Eilema uniola (1 resting in the soil)
-Emmelia trabealis (1)
-Enolmis userai (HUNDREDS!!! Brooms of certain zone was almost covered in these small moths )
-Eobania vermiculata
-Epistrophe eligans (1, enormous, in salt cedar flowers)
-Episyrphus balteatus
-Eristalis tenax
-Eupeodes corollae
-Eurydema ornata (various adults both in red and harlequin-phases, and 1 nymph)
-Evarcha arcuata (a big black male)
-Exhyalanthrax afer (doubty ID as the sight was very brief)
-Exoprosopa jacchus (at least 2)
-Felis catus (1 adult and 2 pups of Siamese breed. Pups was begging for food)
-Ficedula hypoleuca (1, seen far and badly, but I don't think there is any other possible ID)
-Forficula auricularia (adult females and 1 nymph)
-Formica subrufa
-Galeruca angusta
-Gambusia holbrooki
-Gegenes nostrodamus (not seen since 2012!)
-Graphosoma lineatum
-Graphosoma semipunctatum (these two Graphosoma intermixed in the same flowers of Ferula communis)
-Hipparchia semele (1)
-Hippodamia variegata
-Hirundo rustica
-Homo sapiens (a plague, as everyday everywhere, but I met a very nice individual of this species here!)
-Hyalopterus pruni
-Idaea ochrata (1 in the field, plus 1 in the door of my house!)
-Idaea sericeata (not seen since 2010!)
-Iris oratoria (only an egg-case, not empty)
-Ischnura graellsii (1 male)
-Isomira antennata (1)
-Lachnaia pubescens (abundant in various plant, but a full orgy concentrated in a single Rumex crispus plant)
-Lachnaia tristigma
-Latrodectus lilianae (a damaged or stunned female, barely able to react. Completely black one)
-Lehmannia valentiana
-Leptomona erythrocephala (1, second in my life, first one was from 2016 and in same place)
-LOBOPTERA CANARIENSIS. After several years of seeing them, I finally solved the ID today as this one based on intuition. I always doubted about if these small black cockroaches found sometimes under stones in the field in my zone were Loboptera or nymphs of Blatta orientalis. I usually passed on them thinking that they're either darker morphs of Loboptera decipiens or nymphs of Blatta orientalis, and I had both species already photographed. Today I found one just newly emerged from it last moult, still white, and photographed it. Based in the shape of cerci is not a Blatta and must be a Loboptera, but L. decipiens always have a much more marked yellowish border in the whole body. With the clear border being much darker and much more reduced (restricted to wing lobes), this must be Loboptera canarienis that has been photographed by other authors in same general area. Shamefully I've only photographed the just moulted one, and not a black one under the same stone, but knowing the ID I will find another occasion. It's not a lifer but is the first time I saw the species consciently.
-Luscinia megarhynchos (only heard, not seen)
-Megalocoleus bolivari (not sure on the id, for confirmation. Extremely well camouflaged, one bright yellow mirid in the center of each bright yellow flower head of Santolina chamaecyparissus. Until now, if that's the species, I only saw them at light trap, out of "context")
-Merops apiaster
-Milvus migrans (abundant)
-Nabis sp. (dead one, old prey of a spider partialy covered in spider-net)
-Natrix maura (1, swimming just where the drowned fox)
-Nomioides minutissimus (1)
-Nomisia aussereri (not sure on the ID, but very probably. Very big individual in the nest)
-Oedemera barbara (I'm guessing that all the "Oedemera barbara" that I'm seeing lately, always females, are not indeed the true O. barbara but extremely yellowish form of O. flavipes...)
-Oedemera flavipes (very abundant)
-Oedemera simplex
-Ommatoiulus rutilans
-Orthomus barbarus
-Oryctolagus cuniculus (1)
-Pachymerium ferrugineum (ID not 100% sure but very likely)
-Pararge aegeria
-Passer domesticus
-Percus patruelis (1)
-Pica pica
-Pieris rapae
-Piezodorus lituratus (1, in green form)
-Pisaura mirabilis (a very big female with egg sac)
-Podagrica fuscicornis
-Podalonia hirsuta (I'm unable to distinguish species in Podalonia but the ones from same place were identified as hirsuta by hymenopteran experts)
-Porcellionides pruinosus (just 1 walking outside in a house wall)
-Psammodromus algirus (1, very swift, hiding under a bush that I had to shake for see the lizard running to next hide and ID it)
-Pyronia bathseba
-Pyronia cecilia (at least 2 males)
-Pyrgomorpha conica (1 small male in brown phase, it lacks a hind leg)
-Pyrrhocoris apterus
-Rhagonycha fulva (THOUSANDS. This species was very common during my childhood but in last years it was missing from my zone, I didn't saw none from 2015 to 2018! Good to see that this year they recovered its former abundance)
-Rhodanthidium sticticum (just a dead one in the soil)
-Rumina decollata (old empty shells and a concentration of young alive ones under a stone)
-Runcinia grammica (1. It almost catch an Oedemera flavipes in front of our eyes, but the beetle escaped)
-Scaurus punctatus
-Sceliphron destillatorium (sight was very brief as for ensure the species, but I had this impression and is the most likely)
-Scolopendra cingulata (1 adult under a stone and 1 young under another)
-Scymnus frontalis (lifer - I regret not photographing it)
-Scymnus interruptus
-Serinus serinus
-Sphaerophoria scripta (1 male)
-Sphingonotus coerulans (very abundant)
-Streptopelia decaocto (in the city only)
-Sturnus unicolor (abundant)
-Sylvia melanocephala (1, flied out of a broom and made a sound)
-Syritta pipiens (1)
-Tentyria peiroleri
-Thomisus onustus (an enormous fat female in bright yellow phase)
-Thymelicus acteon (very abundant)
-Tituboea biguttata
-Trichodes leucopsideus (1)
-Trochoidea elegans (1, sticked in a wall, first of the year)
-Tropidotilla littoralis (for confirmation. Ginormous velvet wasp, with this size only can be Tropidotilla or Mutilla. I will consult mutillid expert after)-- EDIT Confirmated by the expert :-)
-Valgus hemipterus (1 female)
-Vulpes vulpes (the saddest sighting of the day. A drowned fox floating in a watercourse)
-Xerotricha conspurcata
-Xylocopa violacea


----------------------------------------------------


-a non-kite raptor, almost sure a buzzard, but seen too briefly for ensure the ID
-unidentified gnaphosid spiders
-Unidentified Pardosa sp. (female with egg sac)
-Unidentified Oxyopes sp.
-Unidentified jumping spider (maybe Pseudeuophrys sp)
-Unidentified Curteria sp. Metallic green-red mite, that I already saw and photographed in only one occasion in my life (it's posted in the "Animal identification thread"), this time we saw 2 of them and one sas collected with the hope of sending it to a mite expert that maybe if things go well would be able to tell a specific ID.
-Unidentified Ctenolepisma
-Unidentified Neoasterolepisma (in Messor sp. nest)
-Unidentified gomphocerine grasshoppers
-Unidentified spinner (Embioptera) in the silk tunnels. I was unable to catch it for ID
-unidentified brown shield bug nymph
-Unidentified Atractotomus sp. (not photographed)
-Several mirid bug species unidentified or in process of identification
-Unidentified yellowish/brown aphids on fennel (I regret not photographing them)
-Unidentified thrips that I regret not have photographed. Wingless (maybe a nymph, but quite big, about 3 mm lenght), deep black with a very narrow white belt in metathorax/base of abdomen, and abdomen ended in a tube (Aeolothripidae?)
-Unidentified robberflies (Asilidae Asilinae, cf. Promachus/Lasiopogon), in two sizes (probably at least two species)
-Several unidentified flies and bees
-Unidentified chironomid midges
-Unidentified Sciomyzidae-like fly
-Unidentified Anthomyia (cf. pluvialis)
-Unidentified Lucilia sp.
-Unidentified Dromius-like ground beetle
-Unidentified tiny rove beetle
-Unidentified Agriotes-like click beetle (for @bmathison1972 once I upload pics into PC)
-Unidentified Enicopus sp. (female and hence not possible to ID)
-Unidentified small brown beetle, I don't know ever the family
-Unidentified Nalassus sp.
-Unidentified mordellid beetles
-Unidentified apionid and nanophyiine micro-weevils
-Unidentified pteromalid wasps of various species, including a very cute one as wide as long and with wings invisible against the body (not photographed)
-Unidentified braconid and ichneumonid wasps of several species (I pass on them, they're too terrible to ID)
-Unidentified very big colorful cuckoo wasp (Chrysididae). Probably not identifiable since I was unable to get a photo of pygidium. Most probably a Chrysura
-Unidentified Messor sp. (soldiers were all-black)
-Unidentified Megachile
-Unidentified Anthidium
-Unidentified Polistes wasp
-Unidentified Eumenes sp.

And here some images of the trip:

The just moulted cockroach Loboptera canariensis


The extremely well camouflaged bright yellow Megalocoleus bolivari in bright yellow button of Santolina chamaecyparissus, its only host plant.


The storks at the nest. And and UFO (it's a house sparrow, many small birds use occupied stork nests for make their own nests in between)


The splendid Anthaxia hypomelaena on its host plant, Eryngium campestre


I caught the big cuckoo wasps in full flight, tough blurred. Artistic composition with the Ferula communis flowers


And finally, the click beetle for Blaine (Blaine, if you're not enough familiar with European fauna of Elateridae, don't effort too much with the ID, I can ask in other places )

[bmathison1972]

@Isidro - I didn't start specializing in elaterids until about 2010, and my expertise is exculsively in the Nearctic fauna. By the way, have you tried posting to iNaturalist for ID help? Sometimes it works, sometimes it is waaaay off. It does appear to be in the genus, Agriotes as you mentioned earlier.

I went birding today along a stretch of the Jordan River Parkway. A lot of birds out, but no new lifers today. In addition to the following birds, mammals included mule deer and fox squirrels. There was a farm along the stretch, so I did see domestic dogs, goats, and chickens as well.

Birds:

Canada goose
mallard
rock dove
mourning dove
black-chinned hummingbird
American coot
killdeer
California/ring-billed gulls (I can't ID gulls in-flight)
Caspian tern (tentative ID based on size, also in-flight)
American kestrel
western kingbird
black-billed magpie
black-capped chickadee
northern rough-winged swallow
barn swallow
European starling
American robin
house sparrow
song sparrow
Bullock's oriole
red-winged blackbird
yellow warbler
yellow-rumped warbler
western tanager
black-headed grosbeak

[Isidro]

Thanks Blaine - I was member of iNaturalist since many years ago, went very enthusiastic at begin both identifying and asking, but the platform is absolutely terrible for my PC - it can cost about an hour to enter and post an image with Internet stopped - , and most importantly, the percentage of IDS obtained from this place (from any lifeform group) is about 1% and there are a lot of arrogant people that give non-identifications and repeat identifications already given by the own photo uploader. Finally this same year I got tired of all this bullshit, as for certain galls that were posted years ago was identified nothing less than as "Pterygota" (that is the same that say "I have no idea", as you know), I pointed educatedly that this kind of non-identifications are not of my interest and people here rushed me in very rude way since this comment, so I abandoned the place, I don't win nothing staying here, I don't lose nothing by exiting and I think they lost the most knowlegdeable non-specialized member of the whole website so maybe next time they think twice before being dumb... or not.

Anyway I recommend highly to any member of iNaturalist to abandon this platform - as it happens often with this kind of website, with very good intentions and complete for being very useful, but ruined by its own community once it's enough numerous for desequilibrate it-.

I have many other sources for ask identifications, and for european elaterids I will got an ID easily as is a much studied subject. I can't say the same for many other animal groups.

[bmathison1972]

My biggest issues with iNat are people blindly following 'suggested IDs' and not doing the due-diligence to see if that ID even makes sense (for example, identifying an elaterid from California as something from Europe). People are becoming blind servants to their technology; heaven forbid they pull a book of the shelf or run their specimen through a dichotomous key. But I digress LOL. I go on iNat only to help identify North American elaterids - I don't post there. I guess the only reason I stick around is because I like looking at the photos of the insects

example: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/80976294

EDIT: Let's not let this conversation get off track for the thread