Among other things, I was out tonight specifically looking for this – I’m just not sure if I found it or not, but I think I did.
Ever since I missed the anole egg hatching (see previous post,) I’ve been checking the environs to see if I can find the newborn – mostly at night, because it’s very likely that the hatchling will stretch out on a leaf someplace to snooze,
Not really, but last night the temperature dropped more than it had in weeks, coupled with high humidity, and dew formed with a vengeance, which we also hadn’t seen in weeks – it doesn’t often hit the dewpoint overnight in summer here. And so, there were a couple of subjects to be found because of this.
The Girlfriend and I had seen this eastern carpenter bee (Xylocopa virginica)
I’ve said before that I had my own method of determining the first day of spring, as befits a nature photographer that concentrates more than a little on reptiles and amphibians: the first appearance of a treefrog species. This does make the event somewhat variable, but so what? It certainly fits a lot better than the traditional dates for these things, such as the first day
Today is World Turtle Day, and I’m prepared, having in fact obtained a few images the day before, because I’ve got it going on. What “it” is and what “going on” means is up for interpretation, and I doubt we’ll be in agreement over those. Regardless, some World Turtles.
The explosion of both foliage in the many trees around the pond and large lily leaves
These are the most recent images, taken late last night, because we needed a buffer between posts of too-similar images, and I don’t feel like using the raindrops-on-roses pic right now (they’re coming, Julie Andrews.) Plus, I was a little surprised by two of these, anyway.
I’m trying to remember if I’ve seen this species twice this season, or only once. Regardless,
Most times, Carolina anoles (Anolis carolinensis) sleep in the same location for a few days in a row, then switch to someplace nearby, but this one has been sticking to the seed pods of the hosta every night since I found it – sometimes head down, sometimes in the rain, but always tucked in like this. It’s cute.
Sneaking this in before it becomes tomorrow, but I had to check and see if our new little friend had taken up a sleeping spot nearby, and indeed it had:
These are the seeds of one of the two hosta plants that our newborn Carolina anole (Anolis carolinensis) was skipping around on this morning. In the afternoon we got another horrendous downpour (I’m not complaining,)
Had to feature a sudden find late this morning – if this guy had held still, I would have easily missed it, especially since I’d about given up on seeing one this year. This is a newborn Carolina anole (Anolis carolinensis,) scampering around on one of the hosta plants, appearing at a time when even the adults could barely be found. This might have come about
Was checking over the potted plants out front of Walkabout Estates this morning, and spotted this tiny guy.
Now, I have several mantis egg cases/oothecas scattered in various locations and have been keeping an eye on them, and saw no evidence of hatching, but obviously this one came from somewhere – I might have missed the hatching while away, and subsequent winds eradicated
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,