{"id":42058,"date":"2026-07-06T14:53:59","date_gmt":"2026-07-06T18:53:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wading-in.net\/walkabout\/?p=42058"},"modified":"2026-07-06T14:53:59","modified_gmt":"2026-07-06T18:53:59","slug":"in-the-dim-mists-of-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wading-in.net\/walkabout\/2026\/07\/in-the-dim-mists-of-time\/","title":{"rendered":"In the dim mists of time"},"content":{"rendered":"

… which only means two<\/em> nights ago now, since these got bumped by a heron.<\/p>\n

Did a nighttime patrol, specifically looking for something since The Girlfriend and I saw evidence while we were out on the deck grilling steaks (back when it was daylight.) However, we’re going to build rather than doing them in order, because dramatic writing (well, typing) and all that.<\/p>\n

I had the 180mm macro lens affixed, so this is better than the normal 18-135, but certainly not up to the 150-600.<\/p>\n

\"eyes
It’s a fairly regular occurrence to have some eyes reflecting the headlamp back to me from somewhere around the pond edge, and these were holding reasonably still, allowing me time to focus and adjust the flash for maximum power – since it’s a small flash for the macro rig, that’s not a lot, probably 1\/4 what the Vivitar 285 would do, but here we are. Still, it was enough to reveal some further detail when we crop a bit closer.<\/p>\n

\"eyes
A North American raccoon (Procyon lotor<\/em>,) which it almost always is, since they’re routinely foraging around the pond at night. Occasionally it’s an opossum, but that’s rare. Since this one was maintaining ‘eye contact’ for so long, I’m guessing its one of this year’s brood, since I mostly see them glance at something that might be a threat, then move to a safe location, then glance again to confirm – brief contacts that don’t draw attention. A pair of kits went waaayyy<\/em> up the tree on the point one evening when The Girlfriend and I took corn down after dark, then had a brief squabble up there over footing I believe. The sounds raccoons make when squabbling are way out of proportion to the usual seriousness (lack thereof) of it, chittering higher-pitched howls that carry quite well – I hear them through the office door 2-3 times a week.<\/p>\n

One of the diamond-spire gardenias (seriously, the scientific name is Gardenia hybrid ‘Leefive’ PPIP<\/em>) has been hosting a resident for the past few days.<\/p>\n

\"immature
That’s a young Chinese mantis (Tenodera sinensis<\/em>,) or at least I’m assuming so – I have yet to see a European one around here, despite hoping, and the identifying characteristic is between the two forelegs, so hidden here. Maybe about 40mm in length. I went in for the closeup, but this is also cropped a bit:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"closeup
Little peek at the eye facets there, and I’m realizing as I type this that these should<\/em> be black, the colors mantid eyes change to in the dark, but perhaps it’s too young for that? I need to go back and check my stock.<\/p>\n

I have to note, while I was maneuvering for the best angle, one of the barred owlets was in the tree over my head<\/em>, rasping for food<\/a>, but it had moved on a little by the time I stood up and began searching the branches. They seem to be sticking around the area, though.<\/p>\n

Okay, now on to the topic that I was actually out there looking for.<\/p>\n

\"very
It’s about that season, and they’re starting to appear. The Girlfriend and I had seen a newborn Carolina anole (Anolis carolinensis<\/em>) running along the railing of the back deck, and so I went out to see how many I could find sleeping, as they do, on ideal leaves. This was certainly not the one we’d seen, being on the other side of the house on the spearmint plants, but it shows that the hatchings are now taking place. I don’t have scale for this one, though you can see the new leaves and flower buds of the spearmint to the left there. I did better for the next.<\/p>\n

\"newborn
This one was even smaller, and I wish I could tell you how long after hatching this might have been, but I’ve never seen them when hatching or just afterward, and I don’t know if they’re running around immediately afterward or remaining secreted in the leaf litter that the eggs were hidden within. That is a tiny<\/em> dried flower bud that it’s clutching, but I did a better scale shot.<\/p>\n

\"newborn
I hadn’t touched the weed or the anole while doing this – my finger is still nearly 2cm behind it – but it was catching the headlamp and so the anole could see it and was getting suspicious. Gives you a decent idea, though.<\/p>\n

And the fartsy frame:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"newborn
I just went out to measure that bud, since I know right where that weed is – goes to show you how dedicated a researcher I am, since it’s hot as fuck<\/em> out there right now. There were several candidates for this particular bud, but they ranged from 4-5mm across, so there you go.<\/p>\n

I made another pass again last night, not finding this particular anole on this plant or anywhere near it, but did see the mint one again and found yet another. We’ll see how many really start to show up. And I’m still watching for bebby turtles…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

… which only means two nights ago now, since these got bumped by a heron. Did a nighttime patrol, specifically looking for something since The Girlfriend and I saw evidence while we were out on the deck grilling steaks (back when it was daylight.) However, we’re going to build rather than doing them in order, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[531,4081,1262,6874,8206,6875,7075,3196,1021,1022,3189],"class_list":["post-42058","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nature","category-photo","tag-anolis-carolinensis","tag-carolina-anole","tag-chinese-mantis","tag-diamond-spire-gardenia","tag-eye-reflections","tag-gardenia-hybrid-leefive-ppip","tag-immature","tag-juvenile","tag-north-american-raccoon","tag-procyon-lotor","tag-tenodera-sinensis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wading-in.net\/walkabout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42058","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wading-in.net\/walkabout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wading-in.net\/walkabout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wading-in.net\/walkabout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wading-in.net\/walkabout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42058"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/wading-in.net\/walkabout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42058\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42069,"href":"https:\/\/wading-in.net\/walkabout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42058\/revisions\/42069"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wading-in.net\/walkabout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42058"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wading-in.net\/walkabout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42058"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wading-in.net\/walkabout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42058"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}