Favoritos de cobaltducks

Record is for the duck being held by the woman in the black jumper. This duck was released immediately after the comparison photos were taken.

The other two are PBD x mallard hybrids, caught as part of dumped domestic mallard removal efforts by the Pacific Black Duck Conservation Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/pacificblackduckconservationgroup

The first photo's hybrid has a green/yellow bill (harder to see in this photo), patchy facial markings, and legs are a little bit too orange. This one also had white trims above the speculum.

The female in the second and third photos:
Mainly the lower face stripes and cheeks that are different. Both sexes should look like the pure one, a thinner stripe, and Cleary defined cream face patches. The hybrid’s cheek cuts into the cream patch while the pure’s continues to the back of the neck. The hybrid's eye stripe doesn’t surround the eye, which we see a lot with hybrid ducklings. Her crown was a bit too streaked for a female.

Hybrids uploaded separately:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/190350029
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/190350244

This tiny fella was observed at the top of a 5mm diameter bamboo stick. (The cut section is also exactly 5mm down from the top).
I observed the spider lifting one of its 3rd pair of legs (rhs) in the air and wave it around once. It was then I went & grabbed the camera. Sadly he refused to face the camera lens head-on. 😔 I thanked him for his time anyway.

I had a small green fly land on my arm while I was working outside this morning. I only managed to snap a few photos before he flew away. I'm guessing it's a Odontomyia decipiens based on the metallic green colour but please correct me if I'm wrong

Sighting 1

I had 108 wolf spider observations in my unid'ed folder. Because I have so much trouble id'ing them, even to genus.

With Cael's, @dabugboi, help yesterday, he's kick started me into sorting some of them out.

A large male spider, 17mm body length, 55mm leg span.

Interesting distribution. WA, then a huge gap, to here, Blanchetown and East over to Bakara CP on the other side of the river.

Only 103 to go 😉 LOL

Gasteruptiidae.

Holotype female of Gasteruption youngi.

“S. AUST. Wirrabara Forest, Sweeping, 7.iv.2007 J.T. Jennings.”

Reference: Jennings, J.T. & Parslow, B. 2014, Gasteruption youngi, sp. nov. (Hymenoptera: Evanioidea: Gasteruptiidae) from South Australia; a species with unusual setose ovipositor sheaths. Zootaxa 3872 (1), 95–100.