Critters Big and Small Vol. 10

Great shots of all your critters everyone! Some of my critters as of late.
Stumbled upon a 11pt Whitetail buck at Pickerel Creek WA

Looks like he's getting some good minerals with a rack like that...if he makes it through a couple more hunting seasons he will be quite a buck!

a dragonfly

lastly a dragonfly with a spider hiding right below.

Wild Rose, I saw quite a few hawks down here. I'm so grateful there are lot of shrubs that birds in the garden can hide when the Hawks visit. Kingbirds are very astute hunters. It's sad that they can also be hunted as well. But it's nature of things. Burd, love those shots of the dragonflies.

Burd... gorgeous buck! Love that first shot!

Thanks VARose!...Ive entered that shot into a contest...my first.

Burd_Fotos...What a buck!!! Sweet shot!!!

Mrs_Ed...Nice dragonfly shot!! I think that is an Eastern Pondhawk.

Beautiful shots everyone!! Keep 'em coming! I am busy, busy right now..had a kidney stone Tuesday finally passed it about 11pm Tues. night. Trying to get some new chicken pens and nest boxes built, had to put a fuel pump in one of our trucks last night, my son and I had to take the bed off of the truck to repair the in-tank fuel pump..whew!!, did'nt get finished with that until after 9pm and he had to start back to school today and etc....We like others had a 116 degree heat index yesterday with a predicted 120 degree index today (gonna be a nasty one) ....Hope to be able to slow down some soon and get back to the site more often. Y'all have a good 'un!!

DWM, 116-120 heat index!!! Whew, it was hot here too, not sure what the index was but it feels like I can cook an egg on the sidewalk. DH and I were zapped yesterday with the heat. Please all of us take good care and keep ourselves hydrated under this terrible heat wave.

It's slightly over cast today secondary to Emily tropical storm effect. Looking forward to other fabulous posting from y'all.

Found a 'special' housekeeping helper. We're surrounded with woods and water, so little mice are sometimes found around the house. A non-poisonous snake of some kind. He was found in our basement. DH has a day off today to work in our garden. He found the snake, helped removed the snake and dropped it off to the woods.

Looks like he's been cleaning cob webs for you too!

I'm ambarress to say, it did lot of cleaning. Thus my helper.

I'm sure he found places you haven't been in a while or don't even want to go. A lot of basements are like that.

Glad you were kind enough to set him free Lily!

I have come to appreciate wildlife more than ever before. A benefit of learning, I suppose. Thanks all for your thought. What kind of snake that would mimic rattle snake when threatened? This fella was just "rattling" his tail as we approached him/it.

Lily_love...I think your snake is a Kingsnake.... Was it black with yellowish or whiteish bands and/or specks and dots? If it is a Kingsnake, keep it around.
Kingsnakes are resistant to the venom of pit-vipers and they readily eat copperheads, cottonmouths, and rattlesnakes. Although they frequently rattle their tail, release musk, and bite upon capture, they generally tame quickly and are often kept as pets.

DWM, thank you so very much for the added information regarding the nature of Kingsnake. Fascinating that they're resistant to venom of pit-vipers. DH appreciated you passing on that knowledge to us and others. Once again, many thanks.

A Black Rat Snake (Pantherophis obsoletus) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pantherophis_obsoletus will also do the rattlesnake mimic. The picture of the 6 footer I posted on July 28 in this thread kinked up and shook his tail and it sounded pretty realistic. Especially in the dry leaves!

From the above link:

"When startled, they may freeze and wrinkle themselves into a series of kinks. If they feel further threatened, they may flee quickly or vibrate their tails in dead leaves (a form of mimicry, which makes them sound like rattlesnakes). They are also capable of producing a foul smelling musk which they will release onto a predator if picked up. They spread the musk with their tail in hopes of deterring the threat."

This message was edited Aug 5, 2011 7:15 AM

Some kind of assassin bug in the garden;

Red-banded Hairstreak and friend.

Some more deer photos... a watchful doe

Crossing the Big Meadow...

Up close and personal...

Outside my kitchen window.

How awesome is that??? Sandcranes in your yard!

Every morning at 6 o'clock like clockwork! I am just not always up at that time. There are actually 4 of them. The parents and they raised 2 this year. Has been so much fun watching them grow.

Nice shots Wild Rose...love the meadow shot. I have not seen our doe for over a week now. The last time I saw her she was limping and I did not see the fawn with her.

ves52...how awesome is that!! :)

So many people let their cats run loose out here which is one of my pet peeves.....for the cats safety and health as well as the animals and birds they prey on. Spotted this one while walking one morning.

Lovely shots everyone.

A Purple finch

A Mallard, that was very friendly.

Thank Mike for the attempt to i.d. those bugs. By far I don't see any damage from those bugs so I stood back and enjoy them. Bernadette, nice one of the purple finch and the friendly Mallard.

Great shots everyone! Leopard Frog's are everywhere at Pipe Creek...lol

saw 2 of these caterpillars in the yard today.....not sure which moth it is yet. Gus wanted to play with this one so I removed it from the back yard for its own good!

Great details on that Leopard Frog Burd. Good for you Nan, I can't see how either Gus nor the caterpillar will get any 'fun' from playing with each other. lol

Great frog pic, Burd.

Nanny, Your caterpillar, is in the tussock moth family.

Babies are so cute.

Plenty of Cabbage white butterflies, but couldn't any of the others.

Hey...thanks burn!

Dragonfly.

This from back on July 28....thingsa got crazy here and I forgot about some photos. This was on the Greencastle People Path. I bet they eat very well here since this part is right next to the farm fields! lol

This message was edited Aug 23, 2011 11:19 AM

This was when we were having extreme heat and the cows were packed into the water hole!