giantcicada 的最愛

This was an extremely rare sighting for Squamish first spotted by Wally Fletcher during the Squamish Estuary Monthly Bird Census. This seal was first sighted in Puget Sound near Seattle Washington earlier in the year then later in Steveston British Columbia where it was tagged on its flipper ( B310 ). It was observed swimming and sunning itself on a wharf at the end of Cattermole Slough near downtown Squamish only for only one day then disappeared. Judging by its normal habitat it was a long way out of range which is the Bering Sea. I have good video of the seal ( You-Tube video https://youtu.be/QO8osHlLzh0 ) if that will help with identification.

Green form of the Alpine Green Cockroach Polyzosteria viridissima one of 15 individuals sighted in a short period at this location. Two other individuals were photographed to show variation also see:
-https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/36369027
-https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/36369029

Two males apparently contesting access to a female. Although not apparent from the photo, the male on the right was noticeably smaller than the other male. They briefly pressed their heads together ('face-to-face') as if pushing each other before the smaller male backed away and, shortly after, scuttled away. The larger male then appeared to copulate briefly with the female and remained with her.

Galls on Common Box (Buxaceae: Buxus sempervirens). These were most likely last season's galls as there are several visible exuviae left by the exiting adult midges. For those that are interested, there are photos of intact galls from this same plant considerably earlier in the year here:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/69096553

8.5mm
Came rappelling down from the thatch roof overhang.

At first, it played dead (last two pictures), but then it realised it was just a photo shoot and it posed quite nicely, showing off its dapper outfit.

A scrappy expanse of silky refuges and capture webs littered with body parts of previous victims. When preferred prey is entangled, the female spiders emerge from their 'nests' and overpower it by grabbing its extremities. In this case, a wasp https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/9319446.
Presumably they inject venom because after a minute or so the prey stops struggling. Then they snip it out of the web and carry it into one of several 'nests' or refuges.
Unwanted prey, often beetles (see https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/9319435 ) are also killed but sometimes left in the web, uneaten. Ants, in this case, Maranoplus ( https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/9319390 )scavenge around the periphery of the webs, feasting on unwanted beetles or other left-overs.

I have no idea what this is. There's entire orders of tiny arthropods I'm not familiar with beyond name and general morphology, but still, it's strange to get good clean shots of a thing and still have no idea what I'm looking at.

Edit: We have a professional ID! https://bugguide.net/node/view/1977688/bgimage

On Scotch Broom (Asteraceae: Cytisus scoparius).

For reference/comparison:
http://influentialpoints.com/Gallery/Ctenocallis_setosa_broom_hedgehog_aphid.htm

(Thanks to my partner-in-crime, @psyllidhipster, for the assist in identification.)

compare with Observation 231787

Substrate: on twig of living Rubiaceae

Habitat: Northwest Andean montane forest (NT0145)

Collectors: D. Newman & R. Vandegrift

Collection #: RLC1323

Photomicrography and molecular data forthcoming