September 08, 2024

Gall Week September 2024 Project! Add galls between Sept 7-15!

Calling all gall enthusiasts and gall-curious!
Join the project:
https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/gall-week-september-2024
and manually add your gall observations between September 7-15!
You can read the project journal posts if you have questions and even order a gall sticker commemorating the event!
How many PNW participants can we get?!?
Feel free to tag others!

Posted on September 08, 2024 03:50 AM by chyroptera chyroptera | 3 comments | Leave a comment

July 23, 2024

National Moth Week! July 20-28, 2024

It's National Moth Week! Join the iNaturalist project here:
https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/national-moth-week-2024
Attend an event or just do your own thing!

From 2023 journal post:
To moth-light: at dusk I turn on regular porchlights and/or a 395nm UV light (aka a blacklight or "purple party light") on the side of a building and leave it on until I go to bed around 11pm. I check every 30min-1hour to see what has showed up and take photos! Lots of moths (and non-moths) to be seen!

For moth photography:
The blacklight adds a purplish cast to photos and is not very bright, so I recommend using a flashlight to add extra light if you are taking photos with your phone.
I usually take photos of moths with my Olympus Tough TG6 Macro camera with the ringlight feature set to "on" and the white balance set to AWB-additionally, I turn on the flashlight on my phone and shine it on the moths to add extra light. Regular camera flash is usually too bright. The important thing is to find a moth that stays still and then experimenting with different techniques until you find the one you like!

Pro tip: even if you turn off your porchlight/blacklight off at midnight to let the moths and other creatures disperse, be sure to check the same wall in the morning, as you may find "leftovers" hiding underneath objects and in the crevices, corners, and edges near your light!

Posted on July 23, 2024 02:53 AM by chyroptera chyroptera | 0 comments | Leave a comment

April 26, 2024

April 05, 2024

Spring Gall Week! April 20-28 2024 Gall Bioblitz! Worldwide!

Hey, hey gallfriends!
Mark your calendars for spring gall week 2024!
Join the project here:
https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/gall-week-april-2024-event
(Remember this is a “manual” project, so each gall observation will need to be specifically added to the project.)
Galls can be caused by fungi and bacteria as well as arthropods!
Gall resources on “what is a gall?” and where to find galls in your area can be found on last year’s gall project journal page at: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/gall-week-spring-2023/journal/77854-gall-resources

This year the project overlaps with the City Nature Challenge, which runs April 26 – April 29, 2024 (check it out at https://www.citynaturechallenge.org/faq)

(I’m so used to where to find California spring galls I’ll have to get creative on where to find ones in western Oregon….There are loads of galls in eastern Oregon on sagebrush and rabbit brush though!)

Have a gall! :D
-Andrea

Posted on April 05, 2024 09:49 PM by chyroptera chyroptera | 0 comments | Leave a comment

September 01, 2023

Galling all gall-friends: It's that time again! Gall Week September 2nd-10th 2023!

Gall I ever wanted...was it to be Gall Week again! Manually add your gall observations photographed September 2nd-10th to Gall Week September 2023 Project! Photograph galls anywhere in the world!
https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/gall-week-september-2023
Challenge yourself to find the most species of galls in a day! Or the most species of galls on one tree! Or to see a new gall you've never seen before!
Catch you gall later,
Andrea

Posted on September 01, 2023 03:58 AM by chyroptera chyroptera | 0 comments | Leave a comment

August 05, 2023

OdOlympics 2023 Bioblitz! August 19-27!

Join me in this bioblitz project focusing on Odes, aka dragonflies and damselflies! (Order Odonata)
Created and curated by Odonata Central: https://www.odonatacentral.org/odolympics/#/
Read the description and join the iNaturalist project here: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/odolympics-august-2023
To find odes, check your local lakes, rivers, and ponds, especially those with a lot of emergent vegetation like rushes and cattails, but also local meadows, fields, ditches, and gardens!
-Andrea

Posted on August 05, 2023 02:35 AM by chyroptera chyroptera | 0 comments | Leave a comment

July 21, 2023

National Moth Week! July 22-Jul 30, 2023!

It's National Moth Week in one day! Join the iNaturalist project here:
https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/national-moth-week-2023
Attend an event or just do your own thing!
I'm going to be moth-lighting most nights wherever I happen to be staying.
To moth-light: at dusk I turn on regular porchlights and/or a 395nm UV light (aka a blacklight or "purple party light") on the side of a building and leave it on until I go to bed around 11pm. I check every 30min-1hour to see what has showed up and take photos! Lots of moths (and non-moths) to be seen!

For moth photography:
The blacklight adds a purplish cast to photos and is not very bright, so I recommend using a flashlight to add extra light if you are taking photos with your phone.
I usually take photos of moths with my Olympus Tough TG6 Macro camera with the ringlight feature set to "on" and the white balance set to AWB-additionally, I turn on the flashlight on my phone and shine it on the moths to add extra light. Regular camera flash is usually too bright. The important thing is to find a moth that stays still and then experimenting with different techniques until you find the one you like!

If you check my recent King County, WA observations you can see all the creatures that visit the blacklight!
Pro tip: even if you turn off your porchlight/blacklight off at midnight to let the moths and other creatures disperse, be sure to check the same wall in the morning, as you may find "leftovers" hiding underneath objects and in the crevices, corners, and edges near your light!
Cheers,
Andrea

Posted on July 21, 2023 02:15 AM by chyroptera chyroptera | 0 comments | Leave a comment

May 05, 2023

Interesting and Useful Projects on iNaturalist (ongoing)

List of favorite and/or interesting iNaturalist projects. I’m continually updating and adding new projects regularly.
One reason to put observations in projects is that sometimes experts are following certain projects and the observations get identified faster.
(need to add the list from opening paragraph)

Animal signs:
Scat
https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/scatology
Tracks
https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/north-american-animal-tracks-database
https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/bird-tracks-and-signs
Feathers
https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/found-feathers
Mines in leaves
https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/leafminers-of-north-america

Animal behavior:
Mating behaviour
https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/mating-behaviour
Arthropod Ecology in Action
https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/arthropod-ecology-in-action
Global Pollinator Watch
https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/global-pollinator-watch
“Sleepy bee slumber parties” (added Jan 2024)
https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/sleepy-bee-slumber-parties

Other arthropod:
https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/arthropods-on-snow
https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/arthropod-faces
https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/bugs-in-flight

Wildlife disease:
(list from https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/how-to-tag-an-observation-of-a-diseased-bird/40324/7 )
https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/wildlife-diseases-morbidity-and-mortality
https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/injured-ill-or-dying
https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/birds-with-deformed-beaks (not for feet, but as an example of a very specific project)

See "Favorite projects" post from the iNaturalist Forum (need to investigate some of these):
https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/what-are-your-favorite-projects/31885

“Dead” Projects:
(These projects are interesting in terms of tracking predation, roadkill, windowkill, disease, unknown mass death events)
Dead Arthropods
https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/dead-arthropods
Dead Fishes
https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/dead-fishes
Dead Herps (reptiles and amphibians)
https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/dead-herps
Dead Birds
https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/dead-birds
Dead Mammals
https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/dead-mammals
Global Roadkill Observations (Roadkill Mammals, Birds, Reptiles, Amphibians, and Arthropods (although it says insects in project description)):
https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/global-roadkill-observations
Skulls and Bones
https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/skulls-and-bones

Interesting and unusual:
UV fluorescent organisms
https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/uv-fluorescent-organisms
Leucistic, albino, etc organisms
https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/amazing-aberrants
https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/albino-leucistic-birds
Fasciated plants
https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/fascinating-fasciation
Mimicry:
https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/mimicry-gallery
https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/masters-of-mimicry-pseudo-salticidae

Posted on May 05, 2023 06:14 PM by chyroptera chyroptera | 0 comments | Leave a comment

February 16, 2023

Identification Resources-Ongoing

(The current plan is that this is going to be an ever-evolving post where I dump new identification resources.
Maybe I'll break up posts by Kingdom--let's see how unwieldy this gets!)

Identification resources:
Arthropods:

Butterfly eggs
https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/eggs-egg-coverings-of-terrestrial-invertebrates/journal/82288
Moth eggs
https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/eggs-egg-coverings-of-terrestrial-invertebrates/journal/83021
Hemiptera eggs
https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/eggs-egg-coverings-of-terrestrial-invertebrates/journal/82290
Things mistaken for insect eggs:
https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/eggs-egg-coverings-of-terrestrial-invertebrates/journal/82165
ScaleNet-ID insect scales
https://scalenet.info/
Particularly useful is the "Ecological Associates" tab at the top where you can look up lists of scale species by host plants https://scalenet.info/associates/
Currently I look up host plant, then plug the scale genus into iNat for photos. Many species do not have photos on iNaturalist or even when searching the internet.

Tree cricket ID:
Nancy Collins’s iNaturalist bio has ID tips and sources:
https://www.inaturalist.org/people/760944

Moths and butterflies in North America:

https://andrewsforest.oregonstate.edu/publications/3739
Miller, Jeffrey C.; Hammond, Paul C. 2003. Lepidoptera of the Pacific Northwest: caterpillars and adults. FHTET-2003-03. Morgantown, VW: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Forest Health Technology Enterprise Team. 324 p. (Online only)

http://mothphotographersgroup.msstate.edu/species_list.php?state=#7135
Can look up photos by state. Useful to have a genus to start with.

https://www.butterfliesoforegon.com/

Horticultural plant arthropods-some photos
(see long list on side of individual entry)
https://pnwhandbooks.org/insect/hort/landscape/hosts-pests-landscape-plants/douglas-fir-pseudotsuga-douglas-fir-needle-midge

All things aphid:
Natalie Hernandez’s intro page:
https://www.inaturalist.org/people/790537

Kingdom Plants:

Washington State Lomatium ID guide:
https://www.inaturalist.org/journal/jhorthos/77410-lomatium-identification

Seed resources (seeds often look like insect eggs or insects!)(Thanks @harsiparker !)
http://www.hazmac.biz/seedphotoslistgenus.html
https://www.plantatlas.eu/repository

Mosses:
Common Mosses of Western Oregon and Washington by Bruce McCune and Martin Hutten (Book):
https://www.wildblueberrymedia.net/store/common-mosses-of-western-oregon-and-washington

Mosses, liverworts, hornworts, lichens, lichenicolous fungi:
Rambryum's journal posts with excellent resources for identifying Mosses, Liverworts, Hornworts, Lichens, and Lichenicolous Fungi:
https://www.inaturalist.org/people/rambryum

Lichens:
Book: Macrolichens of the Pacific Northwest by Bruce McCune and Linda Geiser
Overview of lichen forms Wikipedia (online): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lichen_growth_forms#Leprose
The Lichens of British Columbia: Illustrated Keys by Goward, McCune, Meidinger (online):
https://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/book/lookupid?key=olbp59329
Or at https://www.for.gov.bc.ca/hfd/pubs/docs/srs/srs08.htm

Posted on February 16, 2023 08:53 PM by chyroptera chyroptera | 0 comments | Leave a comment

December 24, 2022

Be on the lookout for stem gall Diplolepis ashmeadi on Rosa nutkana!

Everybody! Just found out this gall existed! Be on the lookout for stem gall Diplolepis ashmeadi on Rosa nutkana! And maybe on other roses too! Only two observations in iNat! One in CA and one in OR!
See photos:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/138790374
and @norikonbu 's observation:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/140213438
@harsiparker @merav @naturesarchive @nancyasquith @chilipossum @anudibranchmom @megachile
Feel free to "at" people in the comments.
-Andrea

Posted on December 24, 2022 05:20 AM by chyroptera chyroptera | 11 comments | Leave a comment