Dia 82, un individuo.

Day 82, one individual.

Relacionado con // Related to:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/2667158
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/2667199
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/2667420

Scissor grinder cicada?
Kind of hoping the big cicada killer wasp that has been hanging around but eluding my camera would come by and take this guy out. Its call hits some frequency that actually causes me ear pain.

Okanagana arctostaphylae was first described in 1915 and has not been collected since. These are the first photos ever taken of it in its natural habitat, and the second photos ever of a live individual.

Molts of Tibicen auletes on White Oak
http://bugguide.net/node/view/6968

Photo Credits:
Pic #1 - Bill Reynolds
Pic #2 - Bill Reynolds
Pic #3 - Jesse Anderson
Pic #4 - Jesse Anderson
Pic #5 - Jesse Anderson

Pic's from an auletes site here in NC!

We collected hundreds of casts from oaks and filled containers with molts picked up from the ground.

We also collected Sunday the 26th ~8:00 pm & again Monday evening the 27th; the numbers of auletes were unbelievable.

Although auletes is a very common cicada locally - and across the South, I have never seen anything like the density and activity for auletes here off Lake Wheeler Rd.

Sunday evening, we arrived a little before 8:00 pm and the chorus was ear blasting. We managed to catch only 2 with an extension net. The following evening, my assistant, Evie, and I left the museum around 5:00pm and arrived shortly after. She and I collected shells, dead specimens, and scanned the trees for adults, but we couldn't see nor did we hear any among the branches. Approx. 7:30pm, Evie and I heard the occasional flutter of wings, squawk of a male and spotted a few move from tree to tree. There was an occasional random short burst as though a male was gearing up to call, but then would fall silent ... seemed a bit strange. Most impressive was what followed! As the last rays of sun shone through the upper most branches several steady buzzes began to be heard...then at 7:47 pm on Monday, 27 August - as the sun slipped below the horizon - a single male auletes started to call from an old growth post oak - within fractions of a second - the roar of ensuing calls moved from tree to tree in a wave. I have observed this phenom among taxa within the pruinosus group, but never in auletes. Then again, I have never seen auletes in these densities! I managed to collect 5 specimens in 18 minutes of available light ... after which we could no longer pinpoint them in the dark - made collecting impossible; however, the males continued to call 30 to 40 minutes more - well after dark.

Tibicen auletes (PAIR)
Garner, Wake Co., NC
August 2008

Captive males will readily call in females! This guy was collected as a nymph a week or so before and after having been in captivity for ~1 week, he finally called in his first female. It generally takes 36 hours after emergence for males to call strongly. Adults of this species may live for 3 weeks in captivity provided they are given fresh oak branches daily from which to feed.

Additional Info on this species:

Tibicen auletes
http://bugguide.net/node/view/6968

Video & Sound File of T. auletes:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJBV0l3jdHk

Pretty sure this is a male, and very much alive. Have not seen any resh cicadas recently. Picked this one up and recorded the noise it made as a result of my disturbing it. Will add the disturbed cicada noises shortly. Not sure iPhone will display the sound recording mixed with pictures. PC does.

At this loc, total eclipse was from 13:27:27 CDT to 13:29:01 CDT (online data).

Cicadas had been singing early in day but were quiet by 10:00 CDT. They began singing at 13:24 before totality but when light was dusk-like, and continued through 13:30, then were quiet again.

I collected several small green cicadas (photo) but had also seen one much larger black one day before, so not sure which species was singing (or both). Recorded singing for 18 sec at 13:25 (attached).

Habitat is residential neighborhood backed by oak-hickory woods on shale hill.

I spent ~3 hours exploring the area around where this cicada was recently reported. I heard the first one probably within 10 minutes of getting here, but wandered around looking for more and making observations of other taxa. I heard more than 5 individuals, including about 4 at once, so there is definitely a population here. Unfortunately they were all high up and out of reach for me to catch them. My camera battery died before I found one visually so I resorted to photographing it with my phone through my binoculars.

Most individuals were in the willow/walnut savannah floodplain around the creek, which has hemlocks on either side, although I did hear one in a more upland pine forest area nearby.

They were singing sporadically, I'm guessing related to the many cloudy periods.

I went back the next day and got a better recording, couldn't find any visually though: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/51855666

We found a bobcat making himself at home by our pool the other night (at about 1:00 AM) He didn't have a clue that we were watching him from inside. He was gorgeous but we didn't want him to get too comfortable at our home. We both volunteer on the weekends at In-Sync Exotics Wildlife Rescue in Wylie so we knew immediately that he was a bobcat. Friends of ours said he probably knew we were involved in rescuing big cats and making life better for them so he wanted to be a part of that. Either that or he knew we weren't a threat to him. After about an hour it didn't seem like he was planning on going anywhere so my husband scared him off by clapping loudly as he walked outside. He probably hangs out there every night and we just don't know it!

I wanted to upload the 5 sec video, but it is a .mov file and I don't mess with video so I don't know how to change it to something iNat will accept...so you get a screen shot minus the squealing wild pig.

I am calling this a "Wild Boar" since that seems to be what iNat uses for these feral hogs all across the southern U.S. even though I am not sure that is correct?

Chloe is a 40 pound mixed breed pet about a year and a half old. Just a sweet, playful pup. Her owner is Michaela who is the daughter of the folks who own the property. Michaela was out for a walk with Chloe when they encountered a sounder of 8-12 wild hogs. Chloe grabbed a small one by the ear and drug it out of the brush with much fanfare and squealing by the pig. The rest of the pigs ran off and Chloe eventually released her pig which ran off the join the others. These pigs do a great deal of damage but are mainly nocutunal but since I had not taken any shots of them (with camera or gun) I wanted to put the species on iNat for the list of mammals on the property. Image by Michaela and posted with her permission. Anyway, Chloe really surprised Michaela as she did not think she would go after a pig like this. Really fortunate that an adult with tusks did not tie into her!

ID based on this website: https://www.jic.ac.uk/research-impact/scientific-facilities/entomology-and-insectary/slugwatch/slug-identification-guide/brown-field-slug/, especially distinct two tone pattern, short keel, colourless mucus and lighter, squared-off tail.