More Snakes From Saturday

Enough cat antics...I sort of fixed my k key, at least temporarily. Now it's time to get back to our adventure of Saturday past. If you will recall, we were in a nearby swamp that has a different character from both the home swamp and the work swamp.

Early fall is a great time to find juvenile snakes. This is a little (about 7 inches long) juvie red-belly water snake. He was pretty calm - sometimes they can have a little attitude :)

This is an adult red-belly water snake. You can see that it has lost all of its juvenile markings. Sorry about the odd perspective. I took this picture out of the back seat window of my car. Red-bellies have a tendency to bolt when you get close to them. And if you have ever heard them called "red-belly moccasins" and been told that they are "deadly poisonous," that is absolutely not true. Non-venomous!! Let me repeat -- NON-VENOMOUS.

Now for our extra special treat -- an eastern mud snake (Farancia abacura abacura)! You hardly ever see these snakes out during the day. We stopped and picked him up for a closer look. He was a fair-sized fellow, about four feet long. Adults range from about 40 inches to 73 inches long.

You can tell he was not amused ;) But other than putting on a show by thrashing about a bit and spewing an unreasonable amount of musk toward my shoe, he was, like most of his kind, totally none threatening.

Here you see part of his fake-out equipment -- what some folks call his "stinger."

A mud snake will press the pointy tip of its tail against you, but it is perfectly harmless.
So, if you are Southern (or even one of them there Yankees) and have heard tales of stinging snakes, that's all they are, tales.

Friday, the _lepto _itten

There is a slight problem with my _eyboard. Seems that my new _itten, Friday, is a _leptomaniac. She leapt upon the _eyboard and absconded with both the j and the _ _eys. Luc_ily, we quic_ly found the j but the _ is still at large.

Such a naughty _itty!

Taking a Break, Part II

Just a few images from the swamp we visited on Saturday.
It is an area rich with wildlife - particularly of the herp variety. We saw numerous turtles, snakes and lizards, all taking advantage of a warm October afternoon. I'll post some of the critter photos later in the week.

Root ball from a blow-down

It's kinda thick out there!

Smilax berries

Nyssa biflora berries

Taking a Break

Second son, aka Flamebrain, came into town this weekend, bringing with him his blind/deaf, cat-eating pit bull. She is such a sweetie except for that whole cat-eating thing... Anyway, the plan was for him to help us move some of the ridiculously heavy things we own over to the new house. Alas, Mother Nature decided today would be a good day for rain showers...such is life. Instead of heavy lifting, we did a little poking around in a swamp down near the river. It is a pretty interesting place - quite different from both the immediate home swamp and the work swamp. Endless variety, don't you know.

Since my time is at a premium these days, I intend to break our little excursion up into a few posts instead of one long one. That way you get your swamp fix and I don't feel guilty about not having something to post ;)

Let's start with our first reptile of the day, the infamous cottonmouth. Known also as the water moccasin, this snake is the genesis of many a tall tale. In truth, it is not an overly aggressive snake, it just prefers to be left alone. When it feels threatened, it opens its mouth in a wonderful display.

The first cottonmouth we saw on the road today was gloriously fat. She immediately displayed her mouth for us, indicating that she would rather not be disturbed. Please note in the second photo that the fangs are folded away, not down and dripping venom as some would have you to believe.

Sadly, running over snakes is a popular pastime in these parts. In order to spare this snake that particular fate, Treebeard located a nice strong stick and scooped the portly reptile off the road and into the adjacent ditch. She hit the water with a splash and dove under.

Yet Another One

 

Seems we've been adopted by yet another kitty. This one is probably around four months old, appears very healthy, is very social, and was most likely intentionally dumped on the doorstep of our new house by someone eager to get rid of a kitten. Heavy sigh...I really did not intend to add another cat to the family. We had just adjusted to the loss of Bullet a couple of months ago and were content to be a one-cat, one-dog, one-fish, three-snake household. But what can one do? Those of us who know how these things work know full well that we don't choose the cats, the cats choose us ;)

The as yet un-named feline is spending its last night as an outdoor kitty. She is over at the new house with a warm box on the porch, along with a food bowl and some water. Tomorrow we go to the vet for a check up and shots and then it's time to meet Wicket (aka Wiki), our current cat, and begin a new life as an indoor cat.

Keeping Things Rolling

 

Things have been a little hectic lately. Busy at work, busy at home. I hope to get back to sharing the swamp with you soon. Meanwhile, I'm a little like this dung beetle...I've got my head down and I just keep pushing ;)

October Hike

No, obscure is not a descriptive term here, it is a common name. The hopper in the photo appears to be Schistocerca obscura, aka Obscure Bird Grasshopper. It's kind of hard to tell for sure while it's all soft and pale but given its size and where it was, the ID is probably correct. It's Treebeard's ID and I trust him ;)

 

We saw a load of green treefrogs on the spider hike this afternoon...but I will restrain myself and not post any of them. Although, they were the cutest things...

Since it was a spider hike, I feel I must post at least one picture of a spider. In deference to my sister-in-law and FC, both of whom have an aversion to my eight-legged friends, I will limit myself to one spider photo.

 

A green lynx spider enjoying an afternoon snack while guarding her egg case. Somehow I don't think the wasp is enjoying being the snack.

We saw all sorts of interesting things on this afternoon's hike, including a slender glass lizard. Unfortunately it moved too quickly for me to get a photograph. I do wish I could have recorded the sound it made as it slid through the dry leaves. Sounded like a zipper being zipped! Treebeard did his usual outstanding job of interpretation and education, dropping a bit of interesting info about nearly all the varied species we found. If you ever have an opportunity to take a walk with him, either before or after he retires, I highly recommend it.

Attitude Adjusted

There was just enough juice in my partially charged battery to take a few pictures on this morning's hike. The birding was a bit slow, only saw 31 species, but there was plenty out there to make the walk worthwhile. Not a single picture of a bird though -- trying to focus on the feathered ones while they are flitting about is a real battery depleter.

The pond is shifting gears, changing from summer greens to autumn's more varied hues.

Leaves of jewelweed shining with morning dew.
This plant is also known as spotted touch-me-not. When the seed pods ripen you can give them a pinch and they will throw their seeds -- sometimes a pretty impressive distance.

A stinkbug nymph. One of the later instars, I think. Not sure which species.

A pigeon horntail, Tremex columba, perched on Treebeard's fingers. Don't worry, even though they are in the same order as wasps, these don't sting.

Whoops, how did a picture of a green treefrog get onto my blog?

Oh my, there's another one!

Now this is just getting ridiculous! This one's not even green.

Ah, but this one is.

Happy to report that my earlier crabbiness has been eliminated.
My attitude is now properly adjusted.
Funny how that will happen when you are surrounded by things that make you smile.