Today's Bug Of The Day Is The Common Silverfish! I Hope You Like It I've Never Drawn A Silverfish Before

Spotted Dusky Salamander (Desmognathus conanti), taken September 10, 2024, in Georgia, US

Enjoying the sun! It's pretty unusual to see salamanders sitting out in the open like this, so I initially thought this guy was dead. I ended up freaking him out when i put my hand near him to see, and I feel kind of bad about it, but I also really needed to know if he was alive lol... He was in close proximity to a large banded fishing spider that was also enjoying the sunshine, so I think this was just a nice spot! I hope he came back later and caught some more rays!

Red-shouldered Hawks (Buteos lineatus), taken March 2, 2025, in Georgia, US

Unhappy, me thinks!

Eastern Chipmunks (Tamias striatus), taken May 27, 2024, in Georgia, US

The chipmunks here have a deep and sophisticated network of tunnels spanning all around my house. They could be anywhere, at any time. Sometimes this means lots of good pictures! Other times this means seeing stripped corn cobs from the squirrel feeder 100ft out back in my front yard and knowing who did it.

So many gall parasitoids! they were all going to town on those Amphibolips galls, occasionally pushing eachother off them in order to oviposit

Genus Torymus, Genus Sycophila Genus Eurytoma, Genus Torymus Genus Sycophila, Genus Sycophila Genus Eurytoma, Genus Sycophila Family Torymidae, Genus Eurytoma

Brave Squirrel...

Calico Pennant (Celithemis elisa), female, taken April 22, 2025, in Georgia, US

What I thought was a lifer dragonfly, but turned out to be the female of a species I've seen once before! This lady seemed quite relaxed around me, flying almost lazily through the air and allowing me to get very close (for a dragonfly). As far as dragonflies go, this species is quite small, and so is the rest of their genus, aptly named "small pennants"!

Velvetbean Caterpillar Moth (Anticarsia gemmatalis), taken September 28, 2024, in Georgia, US

Aside from Renia moths, these are some of the most common lepidopteran inhabitants of the leaflitter in my back woods! They're terrible to photograph because they startle when leaves crunch near them, so I always have to creep up on them really slowly. Even then, it sometimes takes several minutes for me to finally catch one! Despite their drab coloration, I still find them quite beautiful. They're perfectly made for forest floor life!

Now that it's spring, wet days bring out salamanders here too, which is a nice bonus lol! And thank you!

It sucks that I can't enjoy thunderstorms that much comparatively to a lot of other people, but as someone who currently lives in a tornado zone and whose hobbies include going outside and walking around looking for bugs, the thing I like most about rain is the immediate aftermath—otherwise it's just, like, a loud, stressful inconvenience to me, sadly

Gray Catbird (Dumetella carolinensis), taken April 30, 2025, in Georgia, US

My friend pointed out to me that catbirds have soulless, black eyes, and now I see it every time I look at them. I can't deny that this guy looks like he's committed crimes. Either that or his children that are actively screaming at him as this photo is taken have sucked the soul out of him. Is he telling me that he doesn't care about the horrific things he's done, or is he silently pleading for reprieve from parenthood? I don't think I could help him either way!

Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus), juvenile male, taken February 26, 2025, in Georgia, US

The last of the blackbirds are finally making their way out! Instead of hundreds in a day, we are now only seeing 1 or 2 stragglers stop for a snack. Kind of sad to see them go because they're beautiful, but I can also hear the song of other birds now that they're not screaming over them lol, so that's nice! The woods are quiet without them, but that's not such a bad thing.