The frogs and toads are quite noisy with their singing at night since all this rain.
Saturday I looked up, or down as the
case may be, to see this pretty green ribbon snake...in the house. It
seemed to have trouble getting traction on the vinyl floor and I
can't imagine how it got all the way across the room from the door
without me being aware of it but it did. I got my back scratcher, the
nearest long handled thing, and gently herded it back out the door.
It was about 18” long and not even as big around as my pinky
finger.
I've seen some swallowtail butterflies
in the yard and some little brown skippers and this tiny little
hairstreak. It's true color is grayer than this.
I watched while this young squirrel sniffed around and then dug up a pecan and started eating it.
Big Mama hanging out.
Spider webs are everywhere. In this
part of the yard I quit counting at 12.
A young banana spider with her mate,
these little green spiders with their
neon orange spots,
and shield back spiders which I couldn't get an in focus picture of.
Not sure what this is but I thought it
was a cool picture even if it is out of focus. Maybe a shield back
spider with it's egg case seen from underneath.
I'm not sure what kind of egg case
this is, my best guess from searching images is a jumping spider egg
case.
Wasps tending their nest under the eave. Since wasps
are only aggressive when they feel threatened I generally leave these
pollinators alone unless they want to build their nest somewhere
inconvenient for me and then I just wait til no one is home and knock
it down.
Marc called me out to see this wasp
and a wolf spider battling it out. By the time I got out there the
wolf spider was dead and the wasp was dragging it across the yard.
Very cool!
ReplyDeletePersonally I don't mind spiders unless they get to be bigger than the palm of my hand, then I say nuke them from outer space. There was a story this morning of a couple that went to Tazmania for vacation and found a huntsmen spider eating a pygmy possum. Really gross. You have a lot of snakes in your area. The only snake I've ever seen in my area was a coral snake that David killed. He hates snakes.
ReplyDeleteAmazing! I actually adore spiders - from a distance. We had huge but harmless specimens around our house when we lived in Africa and had to warn European visitors with phobias not to come too close.
ReplyDeleteThat wasp you have is massive, nothing like ours here. How big?!
We are not allowed to destroy wasps nests, must call someone from the city to do it (for free). They usually just carry them off somewhere safe. I try to nip them in the bud earlier in the year when they start building.
the yellow striped ones are less than an inch long. the orange one dragging the spider maybe a little over an inch.
Deleteso I looked up the one with the wolf spider and it's called a spider wasp!
DeleteIn Tucson, we have a wasp called a Tarantula Hawk, which looks a lot like the wasp that killed the wolf spider. According to the internet the sting of the Tarantula Hawk is one of the most painful stings on the planet. We had two hanging out around a neighbor's bush in the side yard all spring. It was sort of unnerving. I haven't seen one dragging a tarantula anywhere yet. The green snake is really pretty.
ReplyDeleteNot all wasps are benevolent. Yellow jackets attack and kill honey bees so we have to put traps up to protect our bees. Last year was a particularly bad year for yellow jackets here in the PNW although we didn't have too many ourselves. I have also found that the paper wasps tend to be aggressive whether you bother them or not so when I find them it is a shot with the hose.
ReplyDeleteI haven't seen any yellow jackets around here, just the little paper wasps and I've only been stung a couple of times when I have disturbed a nest under a plant leaf that I couldn't see. they have never bothered me just for being near their nest.
DeleteGood god. A lot of drama being played out in your back yard! That green snake is so pretty!
ReplyDeleteI cannot distinguish between paper wasps and yellow jackets. All the same to me, they're bees, and I'm deathly allergic and became so about the age of three or four, when my cousin and I fell into a wasp nest and were stung over and over running back to the house. Grown ups plastered us in baking soda and put us to bed. It was awful. Fast forward twenty years, during which I remember no bee stings, and I was stung on the bottom of my foot and my leg swelled all the way to my crotch. When I mentioned it to my doctor, he said Good God, girl, next time get to the emergency room. I've avoided being stung ever since. The best defense against a bee is to ignore it. It's worked for me for a long time.
ReplyDeleteOnce again- so much like my yard. Our banana spiders are back and web building like crazy. They haven't reached their full size yet by any means but they will.
ReplyDeleteWhat a pretty little snake! I'm not sure if we have those.
We certainly have squirrels. And wasps. And frogs. And mystery egg cases. I just discovered today that we have weasels here! I never knew that but it would appear that it's true. How odd.
I love Big Mama. Thank you for sharing her with us.
That snake is a wonder and a delight. I've been seeing a lot of those orb weavers that decorate their webs with the zig-zaggy stuff, and I just discovered a mud dauber's nest in a corner of my patio. It doesn't seem to be enlarging, so it may get to stay. This isn't exactly patio sitting weather, anyway.
ReplyDeleteWhat a Summer Watch - and Big Mama just watching it all go by
ReplyDeletePerhaps I live in a city because I am not one for critters, mice and frogs especially. I am so rodent phobic I suspect I died of the bubonic plague in a past life. It's important to be aware of one's limits I suppose.
ReplyDelete