Some recent encounters with nature!
A Laurel Sphinx moth! I had never seen this kind of moth in person before, and didn't know they were local. This one was sitting on the door of my office building, in a spot where he was likely to be squished. So I got him on my hand, and after the iNaturalist app Seek helped me identify him, I googled awkwardly to find out what they eat (if anything). They do eat, nectar apparently. So I put him on a bush that had some flowers on it.
A gray tree frog, who was hanging out in a bucket we were going to use for water. So we put him on a tree.
Having just gotten this Seek app (by iNaturalist), I tried to identify moss and lichen on a favorite tree I pass while commuting. The app wasn't sure about the moss, although I have previously identified it (with 90% certainty I guess?) as Starry Bristle Moss.
Crystal brain fungus! It's usually found on rotting wood. My guess here is that it is on this tree because of the gash in the bark, and that the bark around the gash is rotting?
A lichen with really cool little cups visible! The app declined to identify it specifically; I'll have to try again today.
Rough Speckled Shield Lichen, according to the app. Shield lichen definitely; unsure if the exact species identification is accurate.
Candleflame Lichen. This is one I'd been wondering about before and couldn't identify. I feel better about the app's identification here. It's a global species.
