Nature Photography

[Fin Lover]

If someone told me that the odds that one of my siblings or I would be impaled was 1 in 77, I would say that is way too high. I didn't think about them jumping like the wood ducks and the others I've seen on nature shows. Thanks for the article!

[digit]

7 hours ago, Lone Hunter said:

Found this article; sorry picture is squished!

Unsquished it.

 

1 hour ago, Fin Lover said:

If someone told me that the odds that one of my siblings or I would be impaled was 1 in 77, I would say that is way too high. 

Agreed. But a 98.57% survival rate after plummeting from a high tree does make the odds "sound" a bit better. Likely, the loss rate to predators if the nest were made on the ground would be higher. Then again if ALL 77 goslings made it to maturity and reproduced with similar fecundity, we'd all be neck deep in Canada Geese in no time (I know it seems that way sometimes already).

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

[minnbuckeye]

9 hours ago, digit said:

Then again if ALL 77 goslings

I think it was 77 nests with an average of 5 goslings per nest. So 1 out of 385 for the death rate!!!!!!! Not bad! I am sure nest robbing on the ground would be much higher than this, though coon do climb that high. 

As a side note, I placed a game camera where the babies will land in the creek. IF I capture an image, I will post it.

[Fin Lover]

2 hours ago, minnbuckeye said:

I think it was 77 nests with an average of 5 goslings per nest. So 1 out of 385 for the death rate!!!!!!! Not bad! I am sure nest robbing on the ground would be much higher than this, though coon do climb that high. 

As a side note, I placed a game camera where the babies will land in the creek. IF I capture an image, I will post it.

Yeah, I saw one ground nest get completely destroyed this year, although it was not in a usual (good) spot.  We seem to have lost a lot more goslings than usual this year, most at about a week of age. I think the parents are getting too comfortable with the people in the development feeding them (especially me) and are letting their guard down. 

[snolly50]

Anole looking to impress...

 

 

 

[JohnJ]

59 minutes ago, snolly50 said:

Anole looking to impress...

 

 

 

He wins!  I can't do that.  

[snolly50]

32 minutes ago, JohnJ said:

He wins!  I can't do that.  

Take heart! Even without a showy throat pouch, you can at least rapidly bob your head up and down to impress the ladies.

[snolly50]

Tiny jumping spider (not sure which) hangs out on a daylily...

 

[snolly50]

Does anyone recognize this critter? For scale, it's walking along a 9/16 inch mortar joint.

 

[Kane]

58 minutes ago, snolly50 said:

Does anyone recognize this critter? For scale, it's walking along a 9/16 inch mortar joint.

 

 

Given the head markings, I am leaning in favour of Photuris sp., or firefly as they are commonly called. It is a bit wider/blunter than how they usually appear, but it seems the best match to me. 

[Denis Arcand]

4 hours ago, snolly50 said:

Does anyone recognize this critter? For scale, it's walking along a 9/16 inch mortar joint.

 

 

Looks like the American Carrion Beetle 

 

https://www.insectidentification.org/insect-description.php?identification=American-Carrion-Beetle

[JohnJ]

2 hours ago, snolly50 said:

Does anyone recognize this critter? For scale, it's walking along a 9/16 inch mortar joint.

 Looks more like a black firefly.

[snolly50]

Thanks all, definitely not the firefly that I was so familiar with in my youth. Of course, I then lived in a different part of SC. The common name ID of , "Black Firefly" seems apt. Thanks again.

[snolly50]

Young geese on parade...

 

At this point in the season two families have merged into a group of four adults and seven young.

 

 

[minnbuckeye]

As I sat viewing the Fossil Forum on line, I couldn't help but feel I was being watched!!!

 

Is this a Grey Tree Frog??

 

Edited June 14, 2022 by minnbuckeye

[Mainefossils]

Nice pictures!

 

Yes, this is a Grey Tree Frog! Congratulations - they are very hard to find. Rather secretive little guys, and excellent at camouflage. I've only seen 5 of them.

[caterpillar]

During a stormy night

 

[Coco]

This night ? Nice fox !

 

Coco

[Missourian]

Solar:

 

 

Antisolar:

 

[minnbuckeye]

 

 

Oh so true!! Today I morphed into someone I normally am not!

 This afternoon, my dog named Chase was agitated as she peered out the window. I took a peek and saw two fawns munching away on my competition pumpkin plants! Chase was brought to the farm to help "CHASE" wildlife out of our gardens. She scores about a 1 out of 10 at the task! Never the less, I opened the front door and the dog bounded out, only to stop and relieve herself, not paying any attention to the deer. It gave me a moment to capture a few pictures before I screamed and scared them off. 

 

 

 

 

  

Anyone want to swap dogs??? 

[digit]

I don't have award winning pumpkins (I'm barely able to grow tomatoes that the squirrels and horn worms don't beat me to) but I do manage well with hot peppers that none besides me but the birds seem to have a taste for. This last week I spotted a White-tailed Deer doe and a pair of spotted fawn walking through my wooded back yard just feet from my deck--and this in the middle of populated Gainesville. We chose our house well with a fossil-bearing creek running through the forested back yard.

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

[Kane]

Mr Toad was not shy today.

[digit]

Shades of The Wind in the Willows.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wind_in_the_Willows

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

[caterpillar]

A deer eating my plums

 

[Al Dente]

Working near the coast today. Saw a bunch of fiddler crabs crawling around some oysters. Normally they scatter when they see people but these ones were too busy foraging.