Nature close up, What did you see out there? Options

[Denise]

Very cute crab! The second pic looks cool. Almost thought Geode till I saw where it broke off from. Was that pic also taken in Hawaii?

Gads!! I scrolled down while posting to see your pic, and mine popped up and freaked me out!
Wooohoooo! Page 4 and it wont scare me now.

[Denise]

Now if this is a house fly.........Its the king of the castle.
I have never seen a fly this big! It was over an inch long, and had an weight problem.


Looked like a fly mated with a cikada and came up with this...........Any thoughts?

[Denise]

Great time of year to be exploring to see what life has to offer......... but dont get caught up in lifes little webs.



Here is the same web just a wider view of it.




This is a different web, but it appeasrs that the pattern wasn't complete before getting caught in the morning dew. Can you see the dew covered spider in the web?




What a beautiful sight!! Amazing how strong the webs are to withstand high winds and heavy dew.
Just thought I would share this fantastic sight with everyone.

[swizz]

Web?
That looks more like my fish net!
Great shots.

[Denise]

It did look like a fish net, I agree. Thanks Chris, it was definately a great sight. Could you see the wet spider still in the web in the last pic? It sure looked cold sitting there! Temp was at 48 degrees and very foggy after a very rainy night.

[swizz]

Yeah, I saw him in the upper left... he needs a tiny blanket.

[Denise]

It was definately deserving of a blanket thats for sure. Talk about dedication, that little one sure has it. Its a cat spider. They get pretty big, but that one was tiny.

Can anyone tell me what kind of snake this is. It was almost 2 1/2 - 3' long with NO RATTLER......

[swizz]

These birds have been at the ranch for about the last week or so. They have a strong interest in pecking at the wood stairs. Not sure what they are but they look cool and are really friendly.

[swizz]

Can anyone tell me what kind of snake this is. It was almost 2 1/2 - 3' long with NO RATTLER......

That look like a small Bull Snake to me, I've seen huge ones in Colorado but have never gotten a pic. Kudos!

[CP]

Yep Swizz that is a Bullsnake. Good eye.
Nice shots with the birds too, they look like red crossbill finches to me, probably several juveniles in the midst of gaining their adult colors and it looks like mom's in the background (light green). Maybe she's teaching the brewd about some small insects found in the old logs?

Cool pics, I bet they are fun to watch when lunch time rolls around.

Here's a close up pic of one of those cat spiders Denise loves so much. I'm sure I'll be hearing about this post later, she just luuuuvvvves spiders.
This "little guy" would easily cover a half dollar coin, looks like it's pretty healthy too.

[Denise]

Excelent bird pictures Chris!!! Those are adorable finches, and what beautiful colors! Good eye seeing mama in the back of the one pic Dan. I think thats exactly whats going on, the mom teaching the younger ones.

Sheesh Dan! Thats not only a spider, but the one I kindly had you remove for me. Gads, I asked you to remove it, not make it an internet star. ....Good close up pic BTW Dan...

[Denise]

Here is a little different kind of encounter. This little guy usually only comes out at night, but I found one hidding just after sunrise. Gads! The thing has toes....hehe



We have been doing a little more research on this one since Timmy keeps having encounters with them. Poor guy! First he had one in his pants when he went to put them on. He felt it move, so he grabbed it pulling it away from him. Sad to say, this caused its body to oooze down his leg. He said it felt like sand running down his leg. When I first saw what was left of it, I thought spider but it only had 6 legs. That led us to crickets, and there it was, the Jerusalem cricket. These things are good sized! Facinating things to learn about! (see Wikipedia link below). A few nights later when he was trying to go to sleep, he told us he heard a strange tapping noice. We looked all over but couldnt find anything.

As we were researching the Jerusalem cricket
We clicked the sound file it has for the "drumming" sound it makes.

Similar to true crickets, each species of Jerusalem cricket produces a different song during mating. This song takes the form of a characteristic drumming in which the insect beats its abdomen against the ground.

Timmy was close doing his school work and came running over saying "Whats that sound? Thats the sound I heard the other night."

Bingo!

[Coalbunny]

A "what" cricket? Nah, looks to me like a tater bug. Watch out though, their bites can be nasty. Not poisonous, but they have mighty strong jaws so they can eat all them taters.

The fun part is watching the tater bugs get into fights. They throw taters at each other.
(or so my granddaddy said)

[Denise]

Same bug different user name though. They are also called Red skull bugs, earth babies, etc.. It is also a myth that they eat taters, but they do have a painful bite.

Sounds like grandaddy was having fun with you.

[Denise]

Very cool looking mine shaft. Sad to say since taking this picture, someone distroyed the entrance.
Guess some people dont appreciate beauty like I do.

Facinating history and stories have unfolded inside this mine shaft.