First sighting of a Monarch this season.
The iNat database apparently does not contain the taxonomic nomina for this insect; or else it uses a different set of nomina than those of other databases.
If you have some insight as to how iNat would classify this, please let me know.
For now:
Common name: Asparagus Beetle
Order: Coleoptera
Family: Chrysomelidae
Genus: Crioceris
Species: asparagi
This evening we have about 8 or 9 toads singing. If past patterns (and current warm temps) hold we'll have 20 to 30 in our small pond in another night or two.
Found this guy tangled in the netting covering our blueberries. It took some doing to get him unhooked without injury. And without bites. We kept him overnight in an aquarium to be sure he was uninjured and then turned him loose the next morning.
Reaching in to the berry beds and under the beans to see what's in there has become an entirely new kind of experience.
This hole was occupied by a gray squirrel from late last summer until about three weeks ago. At that time its occupancy was contested by one, then a couple of white-breasted nuthatches. After about a week the squirrel abandoned the hole. The nuthatch pair have been cleaning, filling, emptying the contents ever since. One brings material to the nesting hole while the other removes more. Sometimes material is tossed from the hole; sometimes it's carried away to another tree; and sometimes one or both pack the material into crevices in the bark, seemingly decorating the entrance.
Note, added later: Apparently the contest between sciurid and bird isn't over. I don't know where the nuthatches are spending the night, but it's apparently not in this highly maintained nest hole. Just after sundown we spied the squirrel sneaking down from the tree top, nosing around the entrance, and then entering the hole. He's in for the night, it seems. I can't imagine they're all snuggled in together...? Nah....
