This is the second post to clear out some accumulated photos, that I had intended to get to yesterday, but we already know I suck. Regardless of my differential air pressure, these were all taken two days ago and all within the confines of sprawling (for a given definition of ‘sprawling’) Walkabout Estates (for a given definition of ‘Estates,’ though this isn’t news to you, is it?)
I noticed a little juvenile mantis out front on one of the big planter pots, and it was facing the molted exoskeleton of a cicada (that’s been there for weeks,) swaying back and forth as if looking for a fight – I did not have the camera handy and quickly corrected this, but the mantis had by that point uttered its face-saving bravado statements and turned away.
Shame, because I would have liked to have seen how that went down – the empty exoskeleton might have actually outweighed the mantis, though possibly slower. The mantis is going unidentified right now, now to protect its privacy (nature photographers don’t even know what that word means,) but because there remains a possibility this is in a European mantis from egg cases that my brother sent down, and not the typical Chinese mantids that usually inhabit the area. One of these days, I’ll capture one and see if I can spot the differentiating markings.
I left the immediate area and returned not too much later, to find a Carolina anole (Anolis carolinensis) suspiciously in the same location that the mantis had been – with no mantis to be see.
I watched for a few moments, changing angles slightly, looking for the gulping motion that anoles do for some time after they’ve snagged a meal, as if it’s stuck in their throat, but the anole simply watched me warily, possibly thinking I was going to try and sell it gutter-cleaning services. But then, using my eyes just a tad more responsibly, I spotted the mantis again, further around the curve of the planter and wisely holding very still.
I never know how much evolved behavior I’m actually seeing. Anoles certainly respond much more to motion than to appearance, recognizing the quick movements favored by a majority of their prey, but have the mantids co-evolved not to display these motions? I’ve certainly seen them moving quite rapidly at times, but of course not while hunting, and their typical stance by far is being motionless, though that’s also in areas where they blend in very well and I don’t think this qualifies. Regardless, it escaped the attentions of the anole while I was watching.
Quite close by sits a presently-empty plant stand in the front garden, and I realized that it had an occupant.
I’d been seeing this anole for the past week or so, always on or in the immediate vicinity of a large stick that I’d planted to hold the aforementioned mantis egg sacs in a good hatching area – this guy claimed it as its territory, and even gave me a territorial display twice when I was too close for its liking. It’s the same Carolina anole species – they can change hue drastically – but as you can see, this one has an odd-looking tail; this is because the tail got detached sometime in the past and has been growing back now, and don’t ask me if it will eventually blend in with the rest or not, since I’ve never watched it happen. I can say that, just in the week or so of seeing it regularly (which of course I can tell specifically because of that tail,) the tail has roughly doubled in length, perhaps growing as much as a centimeter in that time. I’ll endeavor to keep tabs on it.
Heading around back, my next find couldn’t have been more obvious without flashing lights.
This is an eastern rat snake (Pantherophis alleghaniensis,) formerly known as a black rat snake until biologists realized they could change the clearly descriptive name into something more vague that incorporated the vastly-overused ‘eastern’ – seriously, I don’t know what it is with them but I’m recommending therapy. Anyway, I only see these occasionally, and this one was the largest that I’ve spotted in years, thicker than a garden hose and nearly as long as I am tall (182 cm.) I was quite pleased, since maybe it’ll help with the mole problem, but it’s a good thing that The Girlfriend wasn’t around at the time because this is the size that freaks people out. They’re not only harmless, though, they’re usually pretty docile, which we’ll see in a minute.
This is a snake big enough to consume chicken eggs whole, though they do have to do that jaw-dislocation thing, and thankfully it didn’t show up until the titmouse nest had been vacated. I wanted to do a couple of useful scale shots, however, so I reached down as it was realizing that I was definitely aware of its presence and beginning to slide away, and simply picked it up by the midsection. Not only did it not turn to bite, it didn’t attempt to defecate on me either, or even coil around an arm; its reaction was more along the lines of mild distress and slightly more effort in moving on. It was not, however, as cooperative as it could have been for the selfie.
Yes, I realize I completely failed to take a proper mirror selfie by not wearing only a towel or a muscle shirt, and for that you should be grateful enough to actually donate something. I had to take too many images because of both the snake wandering off in different directions, and the inexcusable lag for actually taking a photo – seriously, why do people think smutphone cameras are so great? But it gives a little more scale anyway, even when so much of the snake is coiled out of sight, but you can at least see the head.
This one might also give an idea.
That’s a standard-width door into the water heater and crawlspace access, 80cm wide. And I have to note that all of the outdoor photos here were taken after I’d already picked up the snake and done the indefensible mirror shot – this is how agitated it did not get, and simply slid on its way with a little more purpose. How can anyone be scared of these? It’s like being scared of a sloth…
By the way, tomorrow is National Get Outdoors Day, so have at it. It’ll be up to you, as I may be very limited in this myself because I was running a fever last night and haven’t been able to do much. Some reptile-related virus, is what my doctor told me, and I should be fine once I shed…