Like a convention of reptiles

Al DenelsbeckLeave a comment

Well, not like a convention of reptiles…

First off, this serves as your reminder that Endangered Species Day is Friday, May 23rd (the third Friday in May,) which also falls on World Turtle Day, always the 23rd of May. No cheating and using an endangered turtle to celebrate both in one go, unless you actually can, and then go for it.

captive-bred axolotl Ambystoma mexicanum from Carolina Axolotls at Mid Atlantic Reptile Expo
The example photo here is actually an endangered species, an axolotl (Ambystoma mexicanum,) a neotenic salamander species found in the wild only in three locations near Mexico City, Mexico. However, there is an active captive breeding industry around them, largely because they have the ability to regenerate injuries, including entire limbs, and so they are maintained for lab research, and the exotic pet industry exclusively uses former lab axolotls as their breeding stock. The one seen here is a specimen from Carolina Axolotls, and did not go home with me though I have been waiting to adopt one for a while now.

But that springboards us into the main topic, which is, I spent some time last Saturday at the Mid Atlantic Reptile Expo over in Greenville, responsible for adding to my photo backlog tremendously, which we will alleviate here a bit more.

false water cobra Hydrodynastes gigas at Mid Atlantic Reptile Expo
This is a false water cobra (Hydrodynastes gigas,) a South American native that was not just docile, but quite inquisitive and ‘friendly,’ even though I typically don’t like giving mistaken impressions of species by using such terms. She extended over to greet me without hesitation and had no issues with handling, and indeed tried to shift over onto me – I was fine with it, but it made getting photos a little tricky.

portrait of false water cobra Hydrodynastes gigas with tongue extended
I found out afterward that they do indeed have a weak venom, making it a little surprising to find openly in a crowded convention hall, but they’re a rear-fanged species and it generally takes a protracted, chewing bite for such to inflict venom, and this one wasn’t the least bit inclined – they’re actually considered good pets.

[This was early in my photography efforts for the day and the ISO was still a little too low to ensure sharp pics – they get better after this.]

On the other hand, we had some like this:

Biak green tree python Morelia viridis in warning enclosure at Mid Atlantic Reptile Expo
Green tree pythons (Morelia viridis) are known to be a bit grumpy and not a mellow, easy-to-handle snake, and those from Biak (an island in New Guinea) are reportedly more so – this one was not coming out to play. Unlike another example from the same vendor.

likely emerald tree boa Corallus caninus coming over towards author, Mid Atlantic Reptile Expo
This, I believe, is an emerald tree boa (Corallus caninus,) but I did not confirm this; despite the resemblance, these two are not closely related. Not large as far as emerald tree boas go, the head was only about 25mm in width, and while it posed nicely for the portrait, it was less cooperative in allowing me to snag the tongue extended, ceasing such activity as soon as I was focused. Eventually, through several tries and waving my fingers closer to its face (provoking its curiosity,) I managed to catch it.

likely emerald tree boa Corallus caninus with tongue extended, Mid Atlantic Reptile Expo
I understand why a lot of people find such poses and appearances menacing, but this one was only inquisitive and quite calm, just wanting to explore. Like most species of anything, if they’re not threatened, they’re not defensive, and will behave in placid manners, though temperaments vary from species to species – some will feel threatened easily, or respond more vigorously, but this isn’t meanness or aggression, just how they evolved to handle their environments and risks.

Some are shy.

very shy and protective ball python Python regius nestled in new owner's arms
Ball pythons (Python regius) are perhaps the most common of the exotic snake trade, and indeed there were dozens if not hundreds at the expo. This one had recently been purchased by the holder and was a little overwhelmed with the activity, nestling down and staying protected. I had a ball python for a while, and they really are mellow and easy to handle. But overall, I’ve given up on having snakes as pets, mostly because they’re more a conversation piece than anything interesting or fun to have. With a good one, you can take it out for handling, maybe even walk around in public with it, but that’s all they do.

[I’m not expecting more from an axolotl, mind you, but it’ll be a photo subject and educational and study specimen, and I’m still a little on the fence about that, too.]

Others are very ‘outgoing,’ though.

unknown variety of hognose snake, Mid Atlantic Reptile Expo
I never found out the variety of hognose snake that this is, but it’s likely a captive-bred color morph, since that’s exceedingly common in the trade, and countless examples of such (mostly ball pythons) were in evidence. Despite the menacing appearance and the sharp nose, this one was super calm and curious, related by the vendor as being their most mellow specimen – since this was the same vendor as the false water cobra, that’s decent praise. As you can tell from the hand in the background, this is a much smaller specimen than the cobra.

And there were some other species.

unknown variety of scorpions fluorescing under ultraviolet light, Mid Atlantic Reptile Expo
Scorpions – to the best of my knowledge, all species – fluoresce under ultraviolet light, a trait I’ve been wanting to capture in images for years now; this doesn’t count, since they’re captive. We do have one or two species to be found a state or two further south from here, but my explorations have yet to unearth one. I don’t know the species and they appear on several different continents, but these look like the large desert scorpions of the southwest US. Curiously, those large, black specimens have a relatively weak venom, about like a beesting, while some tiny little, semi-translucent species found in some countries of the middle east can inflict a near-fatal sting.

unidentified lizard species, Mid Atlantic Reptile Expo
I didn’t note all of the species there, forgetting to snap the identifiers on some of the terrariums, so I don’t know what this is. I also had to do color-corrections for the wildly mixed lighting of the convention hall and individual heat lamps and so on – this should be reasonably accurate, at least much better than the original.

unidentified chameleon species hanging inverted from its terrarium lid, Mid Atlantic Reptile Expo
Same with this chameleon species – it’s confusing until you locate its eye. I could be talked into getting a chameleon, I’m sure – they’re just too bizarre, and generally pretty inquisitive while moving like they’re made of balky robotics.

handful of juvenile red iguanas Iguana iguana clustered together under heatlamp, Mid Atlantic Reptile Expo
These were listed as red iguanas, but on looking them up, they appear to be the same species as green iguanas (Iguana iguana,) so I’m guessing they’re a captive-bred color morph. If so, they’ll likely get a hell of a lot bigger than this. Iguanas do tend to be gregarious among their own species and will often pile together in nice heat sources.

juvenile Nile monitor Varanus niloticus in profile, Mid Atlantic Reptile Expo
This was listed as a Nile monitor (Varanus niloticus,) and if so, it’ll get a lot bigger than this too, even bigger than the iguanas – perhaps over two meters in length. I didn’t ask about this, however, and not only is the average smaller (yet still over a meter,) it’s possible that they grow only to fit both their feeding habits and available enclosure. Still, not a species for a 20-gallon terrarium, even if they do have nice markings.

Now, all of that was part one, because part two began on the same day after arriving back home. I was in the bathroom off of Walkabout Studios when I heard a rustling right outside the window. All of the photos from here on were taken with the smutphone – I know, I know, but I had to. You’ll understand why in a moment.

red-bellied water snake Nerodia erythrogaster exploring just outside bathroom window
Walkabout Studios is a basement office, and half below grade, so the window is right at ground level, and this rustling was right alongside my ear as I sat there. As soon as I was able, I scooted outside to confront my subject here, who was trapped in the corner against the retaining wall and made repeated attempts to escape through the glass into the bathroom. I managed to get a good hold of it without getting bitten, and thus do a nice photo session, albeit one-handed.

large red-bellied water snake Nerodia erythrogaster held in author's hand and extending up arm
This is a red-bellied water snake (Nerodia erythrogaster,) and final vindication of my efforts, though this was obtained by accident. You see, we are now in what I consider to be a prime location for water snakes, including cottonmouths, and I’ve been keeping a careful eye out for them, making several minor expeditions around the pond at night to try and locate them; it’s been frustrating that I hadn’t yet seen one, save for a tiny specimen a couple of weeks back. This one, a different but related species, is the largest example of red-bellied that I’ve seen, and the first I’ve handled – also possibly the largest water snake of any species that I’ve handled. That I found it a decent distance from the water while I wasn’t looking is somewhat ironic, but there you go.

red-bellied water snake Nerodia erythrogaster in author's hand attempting to bite the phone
I’m familiar with the northern and banded water snakes and know they’ll bite at the slightest provocation, but wasn’t sure if this extended to the red-bellied or not; the circumstances of its capture prevented it from making any attempt, since it ducked its head under a coil of its body just as I was making the grab, and so it never had a clear shot. Here, as the smutphone loomed close for the portrait, it demonstrated that it was indeed prepared to savage me – it’s being held with adequate firmness but not tightly, and this was a momentary strike (while unable to lunge) that coincided with my snapping the pic. I was also smeared with feces, a common defensive trait of snakes.

head-on shot of red-bellied water snake Nerodia erythrogaster in author's hand
There’s another defensive trait visible here that I don’t (yet) have a comparison image to show distinctly, but water snakes (among others) will extend their upper jaws wider when threatened, flattening out their heads to appear broader – you can see how the cheekbones are much wider than the eyes. When relaxed, the head will appear much narrower than this. Whether this is to mimic a venomous pit viper, like both the cottonmouth and copperhead, or simply to appear larger, I can’t say. But at least the smutphone produced decent sharpness, unlike the next photo.

head-on shot of red-bellied water snake Nerodia erythrogaster in author's hand with tongue extended
Timing smutphone pics is a lot harder than with a real camera, but a real camera is a lot harder to juggle with one hand full of defensive snake. I’m pleased that I did manage to capture the tongue extended (the snake calming down just a tad,) but naturally the phone’s focus wandered at that moment, because what the hell else was there to focus on?

After this session, I released the snake back were I’d captured it, where it sat and watched me warily for several moments, unconvinced that I wasn’t done fooling around. But it rounded out the day nicely, so I was pleased. And unscathed (well, except for the feces) – can’t argue with that.

So, didja?

Al DenelsbeckLeave a comment

Did I observe World Migratory Bird Day, you’re asking? Did I even complete the goal I set out for myself in an earlier post? Well, yes, though I actually had two, and one remains only half-completed.

First off, two days before the holiday, I was surprised to suddenly see a female wood duck shoot into the nest box without warning, revealing that it was currently in use, and so one of the goals was to confirm this with photos or video. And while I was staking that out, sitting in the yard some thirty meters off with the long lens trained on the nest box, I completed the other goal.

confirmed Mississippi kite Ictinia mississippiensis flying overhead
While obtaining nothing dramatic or even fartistic, I snagged enough images of the frequent visitor to confirm that it is indeed a Mississippi kite (Ictinia mississippiensis,) which aren’t typically found here, though we’re not far outside their plotted range.

confirmed Mississippi kite Ictinia mississippiensis flying overhead
That’s enough color detail to nail the ID down, and I’m pleased that it chose to wheel directly overhead while I was sitting out there (and that I glanced up at the right time to spot it.) These pics were taken straight up while I should have been watching the wood duck nest box, but this was a goal and I needed to fulfill it. While I have no idea how many there are, or if there’s a nest, et cetera, I see one overhead frequently enough that I’m sure it’s staying in the immediate area. I’ll keep you posted with any better pics.

As for the other goal? We’ll let the video cover that bit.

And a few photos done outside of the video clips.

suspected juvenile American robin Turdus migratorius just chilling in the yard
Like I said in the voiceover, I believe this is simply a juvenile American robin (Turdus migratorius) out of the nest less than two days, still expecting to be fed, though I never saw any sign of parents – and may not have, if they were trying to get junior here to feed on its own. While I had initially suspected this guy was suffering from Avian Influenza, it matches no symptoms and has more of a juvenile appearance. Am I seeing the barest hint of remaining baby down around the neck, in that video? You decide.

soaking wet red-shouldered hawk Buteo lineatus perched atop light pole during long downpour
While the winter was full of sightings of a pair of red-shouldered hawks (Buteo lineatus,) by early spring these had largely stopped, and the nest went unfinished, but we were hearing their calls down near The Bayou and so believe they’d simply constructed a new nest down there. Abruptly, however, one has made some recent appearances in the yard, and we believe it’s trying to snag one of the wood ducks that come up for feeding a few times a day – I saw some actions that almost confirmed this. Let me tell you, The Girlfriend is definitely conflicted about this. She was following the hawks’ appearances almost as closely as I was, and was delighted to see them building a nest right in the backyard, but then they disappeared and we started following the wood ducks. I’m sure she favors the ducks now, and while she recognizes that this is simply the balance of nature and how the duck population is managed, she’s not going to be happy to find that the hawk has snagged a meal or two. And by the way, this pic is from the same day in the video where it simply poured all day long.

prothonotary warbler Protonotaria citrea peering from nest in tree cleft
A better look at the prothonotary warbler (Protonotaria citrea) as it peers from the nest. I believe both the male and the female were visiting the nest, but the male was at least nearby and making a fair amount of noise, which is what drew my attention in the first place as I was out scouting for beavers. My position to achieve this shot was slightly precarious, a little too close to the stream edge, and I was having flashbacks of last year’s World Migratory Bird Day – this is certainly as good as I’m going to see the nest, but perhaps I can stake it out and see the young fledging out.

And finally,

juvenile summer tanager Piranga rubra showing color changes between immature and adult
While I was watching the wood duck nest box, and getting the video of both the red-shouldered hawk and the American robin, and getting the confirmation pics of the Mississippi kite, this one landed high in the tree nearby, and so I once again detached the camera and long lens from the tripod to aim towards a new subject. Video was out of the question because of the high angle needed and my inability to adjust the tripod like that without spooking the bird, which was quite close. This is a summer tanager (Piranga rubra,) showing the mixed colors that occur as a juvenile molts into adult plumage, and while I would have liked to have had a little better light on the bird, at least the plumage and background colors work well together.

Meanwhile, I never did capture the wood duck entering the nest box, and after a couple of long stakeouts with no activity whatsoever, I’m suspecting that at some point when I wasn’t watching, the young had hatched out and they all bailed the nest, which apparently occurs very soon after hatching; unlike other birds, the mother does not feed the young with regurgitated food, and instead they’re out foraging from the start. So I’m now watching for both signs of her return or evidence that she’s leading a brood around someplace. As always, you’ll see updates right here as I get them.

Numbers game

Al DenelsbeckLeave a comment

Several days back, The Girlfriend found a potted blue lobelia for me, which I’ve been intending to get for a while, because they’re blue, and I mean, seriously blue – more blue than any flower I’ve seen, more blue than almost any thing I’ve seen. Note that this is not the US native great blue lobelia, or blue cardinal flower, but an African import, Lobelia erinus, of the Campanulaceae Family instead. And one day in passing, I decided to do a couple of frames of it to record that color. But even in the LCD as it did that 2-second preview, I could see things were off. This is what the camera produced:

blue lobelia Lobelia erinus rendered far too purple in-camera
That’s… not at all a color match, or even close. The flower is by no means purple, it is as pure blue as one could reasonably expect or define. I had to do a bit of tweaking to get the image close to what the flower actually looks like to our eyes (or at least to mine):

blue lobelia Lobelia erinus image edited to reflect true colors more accurately
Note that this wasn’t a simple color-tweak, or adjustment to saturation in individual channels (like desaturating the Magenta, which I thought should have worked and instead made virtually no difference.) I had to not only desaturate Magenta almost entirely, I had to adjust the Hue of the Blue channel by no small margin to get it to look this way – thankfully, this had little effect on the rest of the image and thus looks pretty damn close to natural.

But this got me curious as to why this occurred, to such a large degree, and naturally how much this was affecting other images. My initial thoughts were that the sensor had a little too much sensitivity to the violet and ultra-violet, the latter being invisible to us, and this is what was captured in the image; I already know that CMOS sensors can reach a decent distance into the invisible-to-us infra-red. But no – they capture virtually no UV, and the answer instead appears to be complicated and a curious aspect of physics and CMOS sensors.

First bit: broken down into a spectrum, the sun emits less blue than green or red, though of course this is a spectrum and doesn’t bear these nice distinctions of “blue,” “green,” or, “red” that we want to apply to it. Nonetheless, both digital sensors and our eyes break down light into three primary colors in this way (no, yellow isn’t included – that’s a pigment-based thing from mixing paints and dyes.) Other colors fill the gaps and might be considered combinations of these three to varying degrees, but again, spectrum; it’s our eyes and digital sensors that count them as combinations.

Second bit: CMOS sensors, used in most commercial digital cameras, count photons in each of these three primary colors. But the shorter wavelength of blue means that blue has more energy per photon. To use a brief analogy, it hits fewer times yet harder. But CMOS sensors are only counting the hits, and so, blue isn’t getting considered evenly.

Then there’s part three: The way CMOS sensors are made, blue has a tendency to scatter a little before reaching the sensor itself, so it gets reduced even more. Chances are, the software that interpolates the sensor output makes some adjustments for this, but if it isn’t captured/measured by the sensor in the first place, the software boost won’t have much effect.

So, just now, I decided to go into the individual color channels and see how they looked – they are below in order of Red, Green, and Blue:

unaltered image of blue lobelia Lobelia erinus separated into primary RGB channels
As one would expect, Blue is very bright in the flowers themselves, which is as it should be. But the flowers also have a distinctive presence in Green and especially Red, which isn’t, or at least, not to my expectations. I’ve broken down images of red flowers into separate channels and Red is of course bright, while Green and Blue drop almost to black in the channel rendition – like, below.

image of hibiscus blossom with separated RGB channels
[Note, too, that the Blue channel is often the blotchiest and least detailed within most images when broken down in this way, probably due to that photon count vs. energy bias.]

Now, is there a way to fix this? No – not without a new sensor/camera that is probably very expensive, and quite frankly, the impact is trivial; this is the first circumstances where it became really noticeable, though since I shoot nearly all the time in Daylight White Balance, I tend to tweak images that need it anyway. It’s easy to get bogged down in pursuit of some definition of “accurate,” but ultimately pointless; between the shortcomings of dynamic range in both sensors and monitors, and the subjectivity of individual perception (is the blue I see the same as the blue you see?), there’s no way to define “accurate” reasonably anyway. In the situations that call for it, I’ll fix it in post.

* * *

Information sources for this post:

Why are sensors less sensitive to blue light?

Why is the blue channel the noisiest?

Tiny badass

Al DenelsbeckLeave a comment

Or at least, badass-looking, anyway. The specimen you’re about to see is only about 20mm in leg spread – not especially large as far as spiders go, and it only appears this impressive because we’re going in so close. This was found within my outside trash basket, which I have because the resin 3D printer produces some heavy fumes, as does the stuff used to clean it all up, and so I have a basket outside to discard this stuff into. The spider, however, probably only wandered in there by accident and couldn’t scale the smooth plastic sides. I vaguely recognized it but couldn’t quite place the Family, and needed some detail photos anyway.

male Atlantic purseweb spider Sphodros atlanticus slightly overexposed
I was still zeroing in on the flash exposure so this one is a little over-exposed, but that’s okay since it shows more detail from the pure black spider – I really should have set up a white box instead, but it was running late on a busy day. This is an Atlantic purseweb spider (Sphodros atlanticus,) and BugGuide.net provides very little information about the Family overall, much less the species – the identification was only pinned down through careful comparison of the images, after finding the general place to look through an Ecosia search. Other sources gave the habits and method of hunting, which is basically a small tube of silk against tree trunks that likes a lot like a small branch, and so I went out looking for just that, so far finding nothing.

But the real trait that attracts attention are those chelicerae.

frontal view of male Atlantic purseweb spider Sphodros atlanticus showing pedipalps and chelicerae
Those are the appendages in front of the spider that house the fangs, in this particular case taking up better than a quarter of the total body length; the eyes are on top of that knob on the cephalothorax, here appearing practically in the middle of the body, while those two big blobs in front, almost like buttocks, are the chelicerae. Alongside those, down low and looking like forelegs, are the pedipalps (only one seen clearly here, the ‘leg’ not tipped in rust color,) and the club-ends of these peg this as a male. Which is what anyone is most likely to find wandering about anyway, because the females stay almost entirely within their web lairs and the males go out trying to locate them.

But we need to see those chelicerae better (yes, we do.)

male Atlantic purseweb spider Sphodros atlanticus in defensive pose clearly showing chelicerae and fangs
The movement traits and especially the defensive posture when provoked (by poking gently towards the cephalothorax with a small probe) put me in mind of a trapdoor spider, though this was much smaller than that one. The reddish-brown fangs are clearly in evidence, ready to deal with hooligans, but also notable are the serrated ‘teeth’ beneath, able to grip prey quite handily it would seem. Again, we’re looking with high magnification – those fangs are 2mm in length at best, but that’s still pretty large for any spider, much less one this size. I never try to provoke actual bites at any time – I’ll let Schmidt do that – and I have no idea how toxic their venom is, but since it isn’t listed as distinctive in any source I’ve found so far, I’m guessing it isn’t as bad as this image would seem to imply.

Once I had the name ‘purseweb spider’ in hand, it brought to mind some shots that I’d gotten many moons ago, and I went looking for a comparison. Sure enough, I’d likely gotten the Family (Atypidae) at least before, as newborns just outside the nursery:

brood nest of newborn likely purseweb spiders, Family Atypidae
I got this shot just a little over ten years ago, while scouting out a new location for photos and not in possession of the macro flash, so these are by natural morning light under the forest canopy, and of course the spiderlings here are very small. But those huge chelicerae are plainly evident here, and more so as we crop in tighter.

crop of previous frame of newborn likely purseweb spiders Family Atypidae
Also noticeable are the long forked spinnerets at the hind end, which the adult has too, I just didn’t get a frame that showed them as well – I was concentrating on the chelicerae, if you haven’t fathomed that by now. But yeah, they are definitely funky and recognizable spiders, though next time, I’ll use a white box for the photos.

Two little unknowns

Al DenelsbeckLeave a comment

Or at least, they were for a short while.

Back when the internet was out, I found two new subjects for photos and posts – except, i didn’t recognize either of them, and couldn’t post anyway. Now, it’s true that I have the Audubon Guides to both birds and reptiles & amphibians, but I’ve found them to be so inadequate that I haven’t used either in years, mostly from the lack of illustrations; both classes of animal often have numerous color variations, and Audubon has a wicked tendency to have one color photograph of any species. So I didn’t even bother trying, and simply waited until I had access again to online guides.

eastern narrow-mouthed toad Gastrophryne carolinensis in studio setting
Okay, this one wasn’t completely unknown, and I’ve actually photographed it before, but merely once, and thus just one color variation; this is an eastern narrow-mouthed toad (Gastrophryne carolinensis,) chilling cooperatively in my studio setting. Actually, not all that cooperatively, because the moment I set it down into the nice natural-looking leaf litter, it disappeared beneath and had to be fished out. Multiple times.

eastern narrow-mouthed toad Gastrophryne carolinensis in studio setting
I made it a point to do several perspectives and get all of the details that I could, just in case it was something new to me, plus the fact that I intended to release it before I had access to identifying guides, so I didn’t want to miss any crucial details. This is the species whose call sounds a lot like a goat, and with all of the frog and toad calls we’ve heard since moving here, this one has been conspicuously absent, but if memory serves, they start calling later in the spring or early summer anyway.

underside and underlegs of eastern narrow-mouthed toad Gastrophryne carolinensis held in author's hand
Too many amphibian species have identifying markings on either the belly or especially the underside of the legs, so I made sure to get this. Amphibians really don’t like being upside down, and it was a struggle to hold it in an adequate position without either injuring it or obscuring what I was after, but I snagged a decent frame without mishap. And it escaped across my desk only once.

eastern narrow-mouthed toad Gastrophryne carolinensis in author's hand for scale
A scale shot of course – this is typical size for the species. By the way, I’ve seen the common name as both, ‘eastern narrow-mouthed toad,’ and, ‘eastern narrowmouth toad,’ so use what you like – I personally use, ‘Guido.’

And now the other.

red-bellied snake Storeria occipitomaculata in studio setting
Another studio shot, this specimen was quite small but active, and it was a struggle to keep it within the shallow pan I was using for convincing ‘ground.’ This is a red-bellied snake (Storeria occipitomaculata,) also ‘redbelly snake,’ so again, whatever you like – it’s ‘Portnoy’ for our purposes here. The namesake (theirs, not mine) isn’t visible unless you pick it up, or it leaps at you from a low-hanging tree, which actually never ever happens, plus you’d only give a shit if you were extremely ophidiophobic, because it’s a tiny snake.

red-bellied snake Storeria occipitomaculata held vertically in author's hand to show scale and namesake coloration
Actually, I find the back markings pretty cool too, and that rusty head, but of course the belly gets the attention. This one seemed vaguely familiar to me, but only through indistinct memories of photos, because I’m pretty sure I’ve never found one before, despite the fact that they supposedly can be found all through North Carolina.

red-bellied snake Storeria occipitomaculata held in author's hand
They have a nice little ‘collar,’ and it bears a faint resemblance to the markings of the brown snake, which is a related species. They also have a curious habit that I realized, once I had access to a guide but not the snake anymore, that I did just barely capture in the next two frames.

closeup of red-bellied snake Storeria occipitomaculata head faintly showing habit of flattening upper 'lip' or jaw
When agitated and trying to appear threatening, this species can spread its upper jaw a little wider, giving it pronounced ‘lips’ and making the head broader, which I thought I was seeing but had never witnessed before, though many snake species do some variation; cobras, as everyone knows, can flare the skin behind the head and down the neck, while hognose snakes can flatten their entire forebody, and even watersnakes can spread their heads wider, as you’ll see in an upcoming post.

closeup of red-bellied snake Storeria occipitomaculata in author's hand
I can’t recall if this bluffing extended so far as to strike at me anytime I was handling it, but seriously, have at it, little dude – you’d be lucky to get a decent purchase on even my little finger. Their diet is mostly slugs, and this helps explain why I found it under the lid of the compost bin which we’d left setting on the ground, and to where I returned it.

Nine more pics out of the backlog, but still catching up.

They do own the property, after all

Al DenelsbeckLeave a comment

Carolina anole Anolis carolinensis clinging to post lamp
While trying to catch up with the backlog, naturally enough I went out yesterday and added quite a few photos to the queue, under a couple of different topics – one step forward, two back and all that. This post may help alleviate it a bit though, because it had more photos (and some brief video) dedicated to it than any other topic until yesterday, and so we return to the Carolina anoles (Anolis carolinensis,) since they actually own the property and are simply allowing us to live here, as long as we pay the mortgage and taxes and so on.

The lamp post out front (which has just been replaced, an act that may well get us evicted) has been a huge favorite of the species, almost as popular as the south side of the screened porch; once the temperatures topped 10°c and the sun was out, so were they, but a distinct addition occurred about a month ago.

male Carolina anole Anolis carolinensis perched next to female American five-lined akink Plestiodon fasciatus on base of lamp post
That’s an anole on the post, presently brown though that can change in mere seconds, with a female American five-lined skink (Plestiodon fasciatus) on the bricks at the base; the two species inhabit the same regions but have slightly different habits, the skinks being more terrestrial and only occasionally climbing, while the anoles spend little time on the ground itself. There’s a fair amount of crossover, but overall, you’re far more likely to see them like this: the anole vertical, the skink horizontal. Notice that there are a couple of green patches on the anole’s body, evidence only of something blocking the direct sunlight from the skin moments before, failing to trigger the biological system that causes the skin to turn into a more heat-absorbing brown. The skinks, however, only change color with maturity, though it’s different colors for the males and females.

Now we start to see the difference:

Carolina anole Anolis carolinensis with green patches fading while perched above American five-lined skink Plestiodon fasciatus
Notice how, only a minute later, one of the green patches has changed over to brown with the exposure to direct sunlight, though the other is lagging behind a little. It had changed soon afterward, though.

male Carolina anole Anolis carolinensis displaying dewlap near basking female American five-lined skink Plestiodon fasciatus
Now we have confirmed that the anole is male, since he is displaying his dewlap, that big pink thing under his chin. This serves two purposes: as a territorial display and as a mating display. While the skink is right there (and female,) it is unlikely that this display, whichever it is, is intended for the skink. They’re already too close together for it to be likely territorial, plus they’ve been this close for some time without it, and the anole isn’t going to try and seduce a skink. What I’m guessing, though I didn’t directly witness it, is that there was a female anole someplace nearby, since the post environs has numerous places where the anoles can be sitting without easily being observed.

We can see the subtle variation in the different displays in a couple of clips:

One thing not mentioned in there is that during contentious territorial disputes, actual fights between males, they display brighter colors and very distinct dark patches on the cheeks, like that seen here.

The skink made several appearances, but was always quite shy and would disappear at most close approaches, so it took me a little while to get a more direct portrait of her.

female American five-lined skink Plestiodon fasciatus basking on bricks at base of lamp post
She’s a hefty specimen, big enough that I almost suspected she was a broad-headed skink instead, but I think we’re outside of their range here. The males will have more reddish heads, while the juveniles will generally sport higher contrast in their markings and an electric blue tail. Also, skinks are shiny and quite reflective, while anoles are not in the slightest. Since these photos, I’ve only gotten occasional glimpses of this one individual, yet a few others can be found around the property from time to time – just, not one-tenth as frequently as the anoles.

The anoles are also fond of sleeping in odd perches well above ground, at least when it’s warm enough, and this is enthusiastically evident when I venture out on the other side of the main pond, bordering The Bayou. Here, by the light of the headlamp, I can often see three or four from one spot.

small Carolina anole Anolis carolinensis sleeping while clinging to a leaf vertically
I’m always impressed by their ability to sleep confidently while clinging vertically, and this one is as vertical as it appears. I’m guessing that either they have a mechanism, like bird feet, that can keep certain muscles tensed even while asleep, or that their negligible weight can hang easily from single toenails dug into the leaves or bark. I mean, look at this: the toes aren’t even wrapped around anything. And no, it has nothing to do with moisture, because unlike the tree frogs, anoles are perfectly dry and in fact take cover at the first hint of rain, or even when I play the misting bottle over them, regardless of how hot and dry it’s been.

I kind of liked the perspective of this one:

Carolina anole Anolis carolinensis sleeping vertically on back side of water reed
Can’t tell what the front feet are doing, but the backs hardly seem to be doing anything, so I doubt they’re supporting any weight. No matter what they’re perched on or what the conditions of the day were, anoles always seem to go as pale green as possible at night, though whether this serves a distinct purpose or is simply their ‘base’ relaxed coloration, I can’t say. I do know that they often collect dew overnight in the right conditions, presumably drinking it come morning, so perhaps this assists that somehow.

And then there’s this one:

small Carolina anole Anolis carolinensis sleeping suspended vertically, head down, from a leaf
The hind toes, at least, look like they might be hooked, but damn, I’d have a wicked headache in no time if I tried to sleep like that. When approaching with the headlamp, I will often see the anoles crack open their eyes, though honestly, I think it has more to do with how much noise I make than the light itself – I have plenty of pics where they never seem to notice the light, or even the bight bursts of the camera strobe.

This one noticed, but that was partially because I had to shift position for this perspective and couldn’t do so silently:

head-on view of Carolina anole Anolis carolinensis trying to sleep on flower cluster
This one was comfortably horizontal, but on a plant that was surrounded by undergrowth and foliage, so not only was I unable to move quietly, I couldn’t even approach without something that I was trying to brush past disturbing the very plant that the anole was snoozing upon, causing it to sway slightly. Nonetheless, this was the extent of the reaction that I got from the anole, but we can perhaps credit the headlamp with that, since all they can likely see is the glare of the light and not me or the camera in any distinct manner. I waited patiently, and after less than a minute, the anole was dozing off again.

head-on view of Carolina anole Anolis carolinensis falling back asleep on flower cluster
Now, if I touched one of them, they’d become much more alert and may scamper off, though whether they can actually see where they’re going at night is unknown to me; I can’t, at least without a light, so I can’t observe them to know how well they can. I’m inclined to say that their night vision is close to nonexistent, since plenty of tasty insects are active at night so it would be a prime feeding opportunity for them – provided the nights are warm enough, anyway, and that may only be a narrow range of time for them.

That’s a few pics down, and some of the older ones – we’re making progress, as long as I can maintain zero population growth for a little while at least. Plugging away…

With a bonus

Al DenelsbeckLeave a comment

While getting all of the photos for the latest Estate Find, a set of bonuses simply walked right in, literally. I was sitting on the steps down from the deck with the camera and long lens in hand, just snagging pics of opportunity of the dusky Canada geese, when I spotted activity from the edge of the pond.

male wood duck Aix sponsa venturing from pond into backyard, with head of Canada goose visible in foreground
I don’t have to tell you this is a wood duck (Aix sponsa,) do I? There’s a bold pair that’s semi-tolerant of our presence, provided that we’re up on the deck and not moving much or making noise, but there’s a distinct limit to this, and they’ve never ventured any farther than just inside the pond edge, nor have they even approached if we’ve been down off the deck in the yard – that’s always enough to send them to the back of the pond, if not flying off down to The Bayou. But here they came, and I kept the camera raised to my eye with the barest of movement and simply fired off frames.

male and female wood duck Aix sponsa venturing down into backyard
Now, the dusky geese with their geeseling were half the distance to us and foraging unconcernedly, and we thought that perhaps the wood ducks were curious about the young-uns. Whatever – I was watching in fascination.

female and male wood duck Aix sponsa in portrait pose
I call this one, “Estate Gothic” – it will be a print soon. Look at the duckweed still on their breasts.

The idea that they were curious about the geeseling seemed to be disproved when they went past where the geese were, closer still to me on the steps, happily snagging the corn that is usually present (because we’re conscientious/obsessive about keeping everyone fed.)

mae and female wood duck Aix sponsa finally realizing they were getting close to photographer
At this point, I believe the male finally realized that they were drawing close to a human, or that that big lump on the steps was alive; they were now about eight meters or less off, and this is only slightly cropped from full-frame – she’s laying down. I’m honestly not sure what was going through their heads, because they’ve demonstrated how sharp-eyed and sharp-eared they are, and their awareness of how the landscape has changed (for instance, by the presence of people, no matter how still we are.) Did they honestly remain unaware of my presence, or did they get lulled into a sense of security by the geese (which has never been the case before – wood ducks make their own decisions.) Or were they just pushing their tolerance of us because we’ve not only been putting the food down, we’ve been otherwise unassuming and certainly non-threatening? I have to note that the wood ducks rarely even see us throwing the corn out because they typically fly off before they could witness it – these are the only pair that I feel comfortable saying have actually seen it, and even then the motions were usually enough to send them off.

male wood duck Aix sponsa now quite alert to the presence of a human
Here, the male is now clearly aware and not comfortable with it, talking quietly to the female in their peeping, wheezy tones; only a few moments after this, they took flight back down to The Bayou. Still, this was encouraging that perhaps this pair will become tolerant enough that they’ll hang around in our presence – maybe not close approaches, but at least not fleeing for safety. And this is by far the closest that I’ve been in daylight when they could see me clearly – I’ve gotten closer at night when they were blinded by the headlamp and so unsure just were I was, we can’t really count that.

Estate Find XIX

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This one was exactly a week ago, but I already had the Estate Find posted, plus in the late morning we lost internet. However, we’re going to build to this one a little.

I’ve mentioned before about the subspecies of Canada goose that’s been hanging around, a dusky Canada goose (Branta canadensis occidentalis.) We’re considering him likely a male due to behavior, though he’s recently been alone, and from time to time he has minor altercations with another pair that visits the yard, a male Atlantic Canada (Branta canadensis, the most common subspecies) and his dusky wife, which happens on occasion; a previous Estate Find showed some Canadas crossbred with what appeared to be domestic Roman geese, so they’re up for anything it seems. There’s a curious dynamic in their interactions, though:

Then a week ago, The Girlfriend and I looked out back around noon and found this:

mother dusky Canada goose Branta canadensis occidentalis with four young goslings
Earlier, we’d had a pair of dusky Canadas visiting, then it went down to just one hanging around quite a bit, as seen in the video, but now suddenly there was a pair again with their geeseling (yes, that’s the proper plural term from now on.) We’re surmising that the male was hanging around because it was normally pretty quiet and of course we were throwing down corn routinely, while the female sat on the nest someplace unknown to us – but that means he wasn’t around for protection for a large percentage of the time. Is that typical? Regardless, since this appearance the dusky has not been spending time in the pond.

The geeseling were foraging with mom enthusiastically, and occasionally flapping their little stub wings.

newborn dusky Canada gosling Branta canadensis occidentalis flapping its wings
We were out on the deck and at the edge of the yard observing them, and the parents kept an eye on us but otherwise weren’t concerned, even as we walked around a little. This was not the case when the territorial pair arrived on the scene, though.

pair of dusky Canada geese Branta canadensis occidentalis standing guard over brood with the arrival or territorial pair of Atlantic Canada goose Branta canadensis and dusky mate
With this arrival, the parents became quite wary and the foraging halted, with the geeseling remaining clustered around mom. Now, we’re fine with letting wildlife figure out their own dynamics – except when it comes to the babies. While the dusky pair were likely capable of defending them and, while we watched, the territorial pair did nothing but make a lot of noise, we weren’t going to sit by and watch the young-uns get harassed or savaged – not in our backyard. I started circling around, still with the camera in hand though.

male Atlantic Canada goose Branta canandensis and dusky Canada goose Branta canadensis occidentalis loudly trying to claim territory
You’d think the female, at least, may have learned her lesson, but there she is egging on the male, who was being as obnoxious as usual – at least, until he realized that I was ambling up from the side. His honking got slower and quieter until it was little more than a faint question from the shy kid at the back of the class, and I suggested he get back into the pond. He was hesitant, though the female was already taking the hint. I repeated my suggestion, stepping closer, and he gave me a defiant hiss that he could see failed to impress me, and he sidled into the pond, trying to maintain his dignity. Once they had ceased trying to claim the backyard, I circled back but fired off a few frames of the dusky brood as I was doing so.

mother dusky Canada goose Branta canadensis occidentalis with brood of four
Is that adorable or what? Just the luck of the timing, really, but you don’t have to know that.

pair of dusky Canada geese Branta canadensis occidentalis watching over brood of four goslings
Dad stood by dutifully, but he’d been getting fed daily by both of us and had approached pretty close on numerous occasions, so he appears to have decided we were cool and did nothing more than stand by, and mom was visibly unconcerned. The brood took her cue, with one examining me intently.

mother dusky Canada goose Branta canadensis occidentalis with brood, fronted by bold gosling
I didn’t have the tripod set up and so didn’t attempt more than a single video clip, since these were with the long lens, and video with that and no tripod is nausea-inducing. There wasn’t a lot to see other than some ambling about and pecking at the grass anyway, though occasionally one of the geeseling would attempt to decapitate a flower and fall over. We’re guessing they were no more than a couple days old.

dusky Canada gosling Branta canadensis occidentalis forging in backyard
Unfortunately, this was their only appearance so far, which is a shame, because we distributed gosling [sic] crumble in the yard for their return, and I’m almost certain that the pond is too shallow to have any predators like snapping turtles and largemouth bass, which certainly reduced any of the broods that hatched out at the neighborhood pond by the old place, so it should be quite safe. I can’t vouch for nighttime predators like foxes, raccoons, and coyotes however, but I also know that there are countless areas in The Bayou that should be safe from such, or at least provide adequate warning from the splashing as they attempt to get close. Regardless, it was an entertaining afternoon, and we were pleased that the parents brought them by.

A few more whittled off

Al DenelsbeckLeave a comment

Just clearing out a couple more photos from the backlog where I can. These were from the other night, while I was poking around with the headlamp, as is my wont. I’m quite used to seeing the bright blue ‘stars’ from the lawn that signify spider eyes reflecting the light, but the location of this one drew me in closer, since it was on the wall of the house. The odd appearance of her abdomen convinced me that photos were in order, though.

mother wolf spider genus Lycosidae with brood on her back
That’s a wolf spider, genus Lycosidae but I’m not attempting to get any more specific than that, with her brood of newborns on her abdomen. This is common for the genus, which carries its egg sac around until they hatch out, and then carries the young for a bit, also preparing food for them. Other species hang the egg sac in a web or within a nursery protected by walls of webbing until the young are able to scamper away on their own, typically a few days to maybe two weeks.

This one knew I was nearby, and I touched her leg to try and get her to turn for a more direct profile shot, which prompted her to start moving off. After only a few steps, however, she missed her footing and fell about 20cm to the ground, where the appearance changed a bit.

mother wolf spider Lycosidae after falling with semi-scattered brood
While many remained on her abdomen, a lot of the babies had bounced off and were scattered around in in all directions. While editing this photo, I realized she was missing a leg and wondered if she’d lost it in the fall, but no, it’s missing in the original shots too, and might be what caused her to fall. I have no idea how well spiders compensate for missing limbs – it happens a lot – or whether it even registers on them. Do they still attempt to wind prey with webbing manipulated by legs that aren’t there, failing miserably? I’ll have to observe a bit closer. Meanwhile, I highlighted all of the bebbies I could find in the original image to show how far they’d bounced.

animated gif showing scattered baby wolf spiders Lycosidae
I didn’t do the remaining brood on her back, though I did mark one on her leg, and who knows how many I couldn’t spot in the debris? I know I came back a few minutes later, and she hadn’t moved while the area surrounding her still sparkled with the eyes of the young that had not climbed back aboard.

Meanwhile, there’s been a bird soaring over the property just about every day, usually seen when the camera isn’t in hand, but just once I was able to fire off a few frames as it passed, unfortunately without compensation for the cloudy sky, so almost entirely silhouetted.

possible Mississippi kite Ictinia mississippiensis silhouetted overhead
No calls have ever been heard, and the scale is difficult to judge but I got the impression of a smallish raptor, perhaps about crow-sized. It generally soars without flapping, wheeling in large circles like a vulture, but faster and more adept. I took this frame and tweaked the levels to bring out what details I could:

possible Mississippi kite Ictinia mississippiensis brightened for details
That’s enough to reveal a small marking through the eye, but nothing else evident, and my belief is that, if it were white, it should look brighter than this, so I’m leaning towards it being a uniform grey. With that, the shape, and the small hooked beak, the only thing that I found that appears to match is a Mississippi kite (Ictinia mississippiensis.) The Cornell site doesn’t show them living in this area, though the Sibley guide indicates occasional sightings. I know when I first spotted it, it appeared to have a slightly notched tail, which didn’t match the various photos and outlines that I’d found, but if you watch the second video in this gallery closely (the one in flight against the sky,) you can see that occasionally, the tail closes down and it gets a notched appearance – the Cornell site also remarks upon this. So this is a tentative identification for now, pending better shots and perhaps some audio clues. We’ll see what happens.

This is a good place to say that tomorrow is World Migratory Bird Day, so I already have one goal set for that, and I encourage everyone to pursue their own.

Let’s start with last night

Al DenelsbeckLeave a comment

Because, why go in chronological order? More to the point however, the Eta Aquariids meteor shower is still going on for the next few days, we’re just not at peak. Not that I’m going to convince you to go out with this post, but we all know how good my luck with meteor showers is.

So I was out to do some time exposures in the quest for meteors last night, and the moon was a bit bright initially, but in this phase it was due to be setting as the shower was supposed to peak. I did a few frames before then, because.

waxing gibbous moon on peak of Eta Aquariids shower
That was in the opposite direction of the best sky view on Walkabout Estates, disappearing behind the roof, so I was fine with it, especially since the humidity wasn’t too high and thus the moon wasn’t lighting up the surrounding sky too much. This was also shortly after we were supposed to have some storms rolling through, which made no appearance whatsoever. Or so I thought, until I was out there firing off time exposures and realized how often the sky to the east was flashing, meaning there was an extremely active (though silent) thunderhead somewhere off in that direction.

One of the photographic things that I’ve had on my bucket list for a while is to capture some red sprites or blue jets, odd discharges that emanate from well above the tops of thunderheads and so visible only a significant distance from the storm, and these seemed to be the right conditions. So I loaded up the car and sought out a decent view out to the east. What I located was a boat launch a little way off of the river, up a tributary, but it provided a wider view than anywhere else I’d seen. Since the storm was quite distant (the lightning tracker app on my smutphone placed it as roughly 135 kilometers off!) I started with the long lens.

distant thunderstorm activity peeking over the horizon in time exposure at night
Far too distant to get anything but the barest vestige of the lightning bolts, though the glow and the Spanish moss on the tree gives the impression of a wildfire. However, this perspective won’t show sprites or jets, so I switched back to the wider lens and shot a lot of frames vertically at 18mm

night time exposure of distant storm with clear skies above
The one thing I do know about sprites and jets is that they are dim and very transient, appearing for only a fraction of a second well above the standard electrical discharges, so I shot a lot of frames hoping to catch something, even when I wasn’t seeing any sign of such things myself. Alas, none of the long exposure frames at high ISO revealed anything either. You can see the same two trees from the previous image between the two glowing orange areas from the lightning, while the diffuse glow to the lower right is likely from a phosphate plant – there’s not much else in the direction.

By the way, the two stars in the lower center of the frame, directly above the righthand thunderhead and appearing almost oblong, are Prima Giedi and Algedi, forming the tip of the constellation Capricornus, most of which is below the horizon; just below and slightly right of those is a double star in the same constellation appearing as one, Dabih Major and Minor.

I also turned to the right, facing more south, because the sky was much more interesting there even though the storms were barely visible in that direction.

night time exposure showing center of Milky Way and hint of distant thundrestorm
That’s a halfway-decent view of the center of the Milky Way, for a non-stacked, non-edited, in-camera frame. The bright stars at lower right form the tail of Scorpius, and the nice thick cluster of brighter clouds and darker dust lanes indicate that we’re looking towards the galactic center. No meteors, sprites, or jets in this frame though.

I also followed the Milky Way higher and across the sky more to frame something I’ve long been familiar with.

night time exposure showing dimmer portion of Milky Way with Deneb and Sadr clearly visible
From being out walking at night while living in central New York, I rarely saw the brighter portion of the Milky Way like the previous frame, probably obscured by the nearby city lights most summer nights, but I always knew this section, riding high in the sky and (in this case) stretching from upper right to lower left. There’s a ‘gap’ visible in the dense band of stars, flanked by two brighter stars in the sky, slightly above dead center in this frame. These are what I always considered the ‘gateway’ stars holding that gap; Deneb and Sadr in the constellation Cygnus. Unfortunately my exposure here doesn’t quite carry the same impression, being a little too long and thus capturing a lot more of the dimmer stars within that gap (while not making Deneb and Sadr appear as bright as they are – they can only get so white in a photo.)

But wait! We have something at extreme lower left.

excerpt of previous frame showing possible tiny dim streak of a meteor
Seen here at full resolution, we have a faint streak that might, just might, be a meteor. Or a satellite, since I didn’t do a sequence of frames where I could examine this path for continuation. The teardrop shape to the stars comes mostly from their motion during the time exposure, but likely also from faint clouds or denser humidity affecting their apparent brightness during the exposure. But yeah – not a lot to show for 102 frames in pursuit of this very thing (maybe,) though I admit that I only chanced upon this one and other frames might reveal more of this kind of meteoric goodness if examined closely. The point is, I shouldn’t have to examine them closely – I want a big, bold, flaring or fragmenting streak across the sky. I mean, c’mon now.

night time exposure showing growing thunderhead with clear skies above
Curiously, one of the thunderheads appeared to be growing, likely picking up warmer air off the water well out over the Atlantic now. But I clearly wasn’t having much luck and decided to wrap it up soon after this. These pics aren’t bad, just not what I was really after. And thus we continue my trend of not getting a damn thing worthwhile despite repeated attempts at these meteor showers, and no sign of red sprites or blue jets either, though I know those are much harder to witness. Still, not gonna happen without trying, right?

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