mira_l_b's Favourites

I’m developing a Carolina Wren problem with these garter snakes. everything they do feels worthy of another observation. I remember when I used to get excited about seeing two snakes together or once every few years stumbling upon a pile of juvenile Snakes in a rock pile but now I find myself complaining if I can onlyFind six or seven snakes without trying Very hard in the mornings yes…I am spoiled. It would be really awful if I was not into snakes
…probably like living in a horror movie-it’s moments like these I’m pleased that I managed to overcome most of my arachnophobia as well. The most difficult thing is reminding myself that no, snakes don’t want to cuddle with me. No touchy except moving out of danger. :( restraint

Hilarious. I’m so glad that I have no fear of snakes and appreciate all the snakes on, under, behind, above, around things everywhere and every day. I think it’s a perk. The only complaint is that I have only seen one species of snake so far. :)

After crying on the way to work over the destruction my species has caused without regard for the well-being of other organisms (dead fox kit, opossum, painted turtles, squirrels, rabbits, chipmunks, raccoons just this morning) I found out a coworker died in a vehicle accident on his way in today then later, back home, trying to decompress with puttering in my garden a male cardinal got hit in front of me and I watched helplessly until traffic slowed enough to go get him. This was set against the backdrop of an already terrible day and the calls of his mate with whom I’m pretty sure he had an active nest. I’m sorry to write this here but I’m pretty upset by all of the gratuitous death and it is, though unnecessary for ID, contextual.

A female Giant Ichneumon wasp (Megarhyssa macrurus) oviposits into the side of a tree.

I was honored to have this observation selected as observation of the day for June 11, 2020, and again as observation of the week (week of June 21, 2020). It is covered in this blog post: A Trip to Texas Provides a Long Sought Photographic Opportunity - Observation of the Week, 6/21/20.

Underneath wren box. Against my own wishes I found myself interfering on behalf of the house wrens and shooing the snake away. I’m impressed with its determination and lack of fear of this giant. I do feel bad i didn’t let the snake do its thing but I’m justifying my intervention (consoling myself ) that I had created the scene by putting the box there. They’ve been successful in it several years. The house wrens and I have worked out a coexistence and they usually go about their business while i read in the hammock or fiddle with things. This was a unique experience where we were essentially side by side protecting the nest. I am probably just projecting but I think there was a species-transcending understanding. I think I’ll be adding a predator deterrent hardware cloth feature and possibly relocating after they (hold your breath) fledge their first brood. Snake is fine... I did apologize but I’m not sure if we speak the same tongue. Mine is more spoon.

One of two species/variants of Mantidfly I found on the moth sheet tonight. First time seeing these. I am going to try and ID them using the BG guide pages but appreciate help. I think there should be enough detail. I have several more angles/details of these.

This is the larger of the two, this one is about 20mm body length (but hard to measure since the abdomen is curled up)

One of two species/variants of Mantidfly I found on the moth sheet tonight. First time seeing these. I am going to try and ID them using the BG guide pages but appreciate help. I think there should be enough detail. I have several more angles/details of these.

This is the smaller of the two, this one is about 13mm body length.

Everybody's heard of "Walking with Dinosaurs" - how about "Swimming with Salamanders"? haha! Part of an awesome field day with my cousin Pete 30-some years ago - found about 15 of these amazing creatures in all growth stages, saw Long-tailed Salamanders, Milksnakes, Wood Turtles - and even saved a beautiful black-phase Timber Rattler from a miserable fate at the hands of two trout fishermen (of the "only good snake is a dead snake" mentality!). Good times! Happy Valentine's Day to all the lovely Ladies of iNaturalist!

exploring from one end of the deck to other mostly in pursuit of hummingbird feeders. I was standing only feet away and made myself as non-aggressive as possible while photographing the whole encounter. The snake seemed unperturbed by me and just generally curious about finding a way to eat hummingbirds or reach the phoebe nest, neither of which it accomplished due in part, to the large rectangular deck posts which proved hard to scale.

@bobbyfingers, this is one you might appreciate: I made a terrible first impression on this lady by opening my front door two inches and smacking her in the head with it. Presumably, this is a female looking to make a scrape to lay eggs and not a door-to-door saleswoman selling armor. Unfortunately, she chose the tumbling escape route off the side of the front deck and not the stairs I assume she came up in the first place. She then took a second tumble from the bed she landed in down to the paved path below her. She showed no signs of damage and seemed unfazed by what looked like a serious tumble. We were both a bit in shock but thankfully, we both left the scene with digits intact. I'm very interested to hear if anyone else has had such an experience? I've had plenty of garden encounters but not a snapper climbing 5 steps and trying to dig into the front door. Very cool.