Favorite observations of 2022

Looking at my year in review and thinking about some of the cool organisms I got to observe in 2022 (so far - there's most of a month left!)

In the winter, I found an interesting organism (turned out to be a mold) growing on a mulberry leaf and was able to take a very high magnification focus stack. That was a really fun project. I also did a lot of extreme macro work in the moss in the yard (back in California), and was fortunate to be able to watch an ant find a fungus gnat that appeared to be just emerging. High drama at tiny scale!

While recording audio in the mountains, I came across an incredible event - some hoverflies had found a concrete drainage ditch and were congregating there, sitting on the concrete and vibrating their wings at a fixed rate! They also landed on flat rocks and did the same. I did not observe any of them performing this behavior on softer nearby surfaces such as leaves or dirt, although they did land on these surfaces. I was able to get some good recordings of the interesting tones that they produced. I believe that the sound must have been the point of this behavior, but I can only guess what purpose it may have served.

I got to see some wonderful organisms this summer in California - like the state was giving me a good send-off, I got to see that beautiful tiny threadsnake, TWO solifuges, two lovely ground mantises, my first male black widow, my first webspinner... I also came across a couple rarely recorded insects that I uploaded to bugguide - they weren't observations that I recognized as special at the time, but they got me to start posting images on bugguide, something I'd been too shy to do previously.

Finally, my first springtail portrait that I'm really pleased with from here in WA, a globular springtail commonly found in the Pacific Northwest and not (from what I have seen) found elsewhere. I'm looking forward to spending a lot more time with springtails!

What a wonderful year of observations. I can't wait to see what next year brings!

Posted on December 10, 2022 04:31 AM by wildnettle