For our opening image this week, we have a female southern black widow (Latrodectus mactans,) the first that I’d seen. It dates from 1991, and was found in a rock cleft on a trail that I frequented – getting her out was a challenge, because widows are shy and prefer concealment, and of course I was endeavoring not to get bitten. Credit to the species, though,
Tag: coloration
Local variants
The other day I did the rounds of Walkabout Estates to see what was happening among the nonhuman residents, kind of like a camp counselor but with a lot less chance of finding kids sneaking peeks at a bootleg copy of Emmanuelle vs Ghidra. What I did find, however, was a notable difference in the hue of the green treefrogs (Hyla cinerea) that were snoozing for the day,
Scheduled to appear
So, there’s a small benefit to backyard photography, aided by blogging about it, and it’s this: you have the opportunity to see if there is a long-term pattern that develops among the common species, and even pin down exact dates. It doesn’t necessarily tell you why there seems to be a pattern, however…
There’s a large and hearty rosebush that sits alongside