Nature Photography (Formally Spring is in the Air)

[Mamasaurus]

So many beautiful photos! I have some from the Texas Hill Country sitting on my phone and camera, I just haven't gotten around to uploading them on Photobucket yet.  Hopefully I'll get to upload them soon! In the meantime I'll be enjoying all the lovely photos on here. 😊

[Newt]

I look forward to seeing your photos, Mamasaurus! In the meantime, here's one I meant to post last time and overlooked:

Argid sawfly and katydid nymph on bedstraw

[triceratops83]

It's a bit of a cheat for me to post images here, since it's autumn in Gondwanaland, but I just got home from work and found this Echidna next to the door. We've got enough ants here - I hope he hangs around. Not much to look at from this angle, but they're hard to pick up 'cause they fairly dig in and grip the ground.

[tyrantqueen]

Are echidnas a pretty rare occurance? I know they're not closely related but that photo reminds me strongly of hedgehogs. We get hedgehogs in our garden quite frequently and once several on the front lawn.

You should name him Knuckles *is shot*

[triceratops83]

Are echidnas a pretty rare occurance? I know they're not closely related but that photo reminds me strongly of hedgehogs. We get hedgehogs in our garden quite frequently and once several on the front lawn.

They're pretty common around here, but no, you still don't see them too often. And they're always solitary.

[Doug Watson]

It's a bit of a cheat for me to post images here, since it's autumn in Gondwanaland, but I just got home from work and found this Echidna next to the door. We've got enough ants here - I hope he hangs around. Not much to look at from this angle, but they're hard to pick up 'cause they fairly dig in and grip the ground.

Hey this is a catch all for any Nature shots so post year round any season, love to see your fauna, you have such unique animals. That Echidna is so cool.

[triceratops83]

Hey this is a catch all for any Nature shots so post year round any season, love to see your fauna, you have such unique animals. That Echidna is so cool.

Thanks. I've got to remember to put my camera in the car - I often see something cool when I'm out but can't take a photo.

[Doug Watson]

Well, while them furriners are getting their act together, I'll post some more faunae floraeque (that's Latin for "varmints 'n' weeds") from the limy, tree-infested interior of the mid-southern karstlands.
Juvenile eastern ribbon snake, intertwined with mouse-ear chickweed

Tiny juvenile ringneck snake amongst the leaf litter

All these were taken on a nice local trail. It's a "rails to trails" project, whereby old railroad grades are paved to serve as walking/biking trails. This particular one runs between a steep wooded slope with many rock outcrops, rock shelters, and little waterfalls on one side, and a low swampy slough on the other.

Just caught these snake shots of yours what a pretty pair. I haven't seen a Ringneck since my teens it is on my must find list for this summer. Just to let you know how weird the weather can shift up here in Ottawa season to season, we have finally had a couple weeks in the 70s after our winter of minus 20s and later this week it is supposed to hit 86 for a few days and it is still spring!

[Halichoeres]

Just caught these snake shots of yours what a pretty pair. I haven't seen a Ringneck since my teens it is on my must find list for this summer. Just to let you know how weird the weather can shift up here in Ottawa season to season, we have finally had a couple weeks in the 70s after our winter of minus 20s and later this week it is supposed to hit 86 for a few days and it is still spring!

I didn't realize that Canada still used Fahrenheit! Still slaves to tradition like us, your neighbors to the south.

[Doug Watson]

Just caught these snake shots of yours what a pretty pair. I haven't seen a Ringneck since my teens it is on my must find list for this summer. Just to let you know how weird the weather can shift up here in Ottawa season to season, we have finally had a couple weeks in the 70s after our winter of minus 20s and later this week it is supposed to hit 86 for a few days and it is still spring!

I didn't realize that Canada still used Fahrenheit! Still slaves to tradition like us, your neighbors to the south.

No unfortunately we went metric back in the 70s but since a lot of people on here are from the US I often use Fahrenheit. Metric has its pluses like when you are doing carpentry or chemistry so much easier for measuring but for those of us that grew up on the Imperial system I often still think in pounds and degrees Fahrenheit. One place where we really get the short end of the stick is when you try to sell or trade in your car. 60 thousand in miles was nothing but now when you bring it in its "Oh my its got 100K"

[Newt]

That echidna is awesome! Thanks for posting, triceratops83, and I'm sure I speak for many when I say I'd love to see more pictures of Aussie wildlife.

Doug- Your weather sounds like ours, just shifted down a few degrees! Those coastal folks with their orderly seasons and giant salty heatsink don't know the fun of continental weather!

It's odd to hear you talk about ringneck rarity. They're by far the most abundant (or at least most frequently encountered) small snakes around here. In many spots, you can find a ringneck or two under almost any rock or log. I'd mail you a boxful if it were legal.

One neat thing about them is their size variation. In my immediate area they're small - typically under 10" (25 cm) and slender too. But in the higher elevations of Appalachia they get 24" (60 cm) or more long and proportionately much thicker. I think the mountain populations feed mostly on lungless salamanders, while ours feed on earthworms. They get big in the southwestern mountains too, where they eat mainly smaller snakes.

[Doug Watson]

Doug- It's odd to hear you talk about ringneck rarity. They're by far the most abundant (or at least most frequently encountered) small snakes around here. In many spots, you can find a ringneck or two under almost any rock or log. I'd mail you a boxful if it were legal.

One neat thing about them is their size variation. In my immediate area they're small - typically under 10" (25 cm) and slender too. But in the higher elevations of Appalachia they get 24" (60 cm) or more long and proportionately much thicker. I think the mountain populations feed mostly on lungless salamanders, while ours feed on earthworms. They get big in the southwestern mountains too, where they eat mainly smaller snakes.

I now live across the Ottawa river on the Ontario side but I grew up on the north side of the river in Quebec in the river valley at the base of the Gatineau hills. We had old horse pastures and woodlots within a block of my house and that is where I did most of my birding and snake hunting. In the pastures I would catch lots of Ringnecks, Red bellies, Garter, Milk and Green snakes. Since I moved across the river I am seeing mostly Garter snakes but until last year I had not made a concerted effort to look for snakes near my home but it has been since before I  left Quebec that I last saw a ringneck. I have no idea if they weren't plentiful here when I was growing up but I am concerned that their numbers may have dwindled. That's another reason I am upset the provincial government dropped funding to the reptile & amphibian atlas that I used to participate in.
I would say the Ringnecks I was catching in my youth were under one foot long I can't remember ever seeing any 24 inches long, that would be impressive!
If I find one this summer I'll be sure to post an image here if I remember the camera.
By the way, most of those horse pastures and woodlots I used to spend my youth in are now housing developments

[Newt]

Sounds like a great place to grow up. Too bad about the development- I know the feeling. My area's population is booming and zoning is lax to say the least, so sprawl is overtaking the countryside.

I would love to see a smooth green snake in the wild. We have only rough greens here. Even though cartoonists seem to think all snakes are green, seeing a real bright green snake is magical.

Here are a few recent pics, from down by the Tennessee River:

Cope's Gray Treefrog


Fowler's Toad


spawning gar


bombardier beetles enjoying a hot dog scrap

[Halichoeres]

bombardier beetles enjoying a hot dog scrap

Great pics, but I admit when I first read it, I didn't see the "s" in scrap. That would be a very different beetle meal.

[Newt]

Ha!

[Doug Watson]

bombardier beetles enjoying a hot dog scrap

Great pics, but I admit when I first read it, I didn't see the "s" in scrap. That would be a very different beetle meal.

Its weird I thought the same thing, and since it was hot it must be fresh, in the winter up here we call them Stanley Steamers or Stanleys for short.

Great shots Newt the Cope's Gray Tree Frog reminds me of a bronze Gray Tree Frog I did.

[Tyto_Theropod]

bombardier beetles enjoying a hot dog scrap

Great pics, but I admit when I first read it, I didn't see the "s" in scrap. That would be a very different beetle meal.

It's not so weird - there are plenty of coprophagic invertebrates out there, and indeed we should be grateful that there are!

[Doug Watson]

bombardier beetles enjoying a hot dog scrap

Great pics, but I admit when I first read it, I didn't see the "s" in scrap. That would be a very different beetle meal.

It's not so weird - there are plenty of coprophagic invertebrates out there, and indeed we should be grateful that there are!

I know we have lots of dung eating beetles etc here as well what was weird was both of us read the same text wrong and came up with the same interpretation for a moment at least and both scenarios are viable only probably not with Bombardier Beetles however.

[Newt]

I'd love to see your bronze treefrog, Doug - do you have any photos?

I didn't photograph any coprophages this trip, but I did see some scavenging going on:

daddy longlegs eating a road-killed caterpillar


field cricket nibbling a small snake (Smooth Earth Snake, I think, but it's hard to tell at this point)


and from a few weeks ago: this Spring Peeper had just peeped himself out, and a physid snail came to clean up the mess

[Doug Watson]

I'd love to see your bronze treefrog, Doug - do you have any photos?

Couldn't find a non dinosaur art category so hope nobody minds these here.
It stands 8.75 inches tall.