Critters Big and Small Vol. 12

Lily, I will be interested to hear how to tell the difference between male and female Tigers. I do see the dark females in the Houston area, but I wouldn't know if a yellow one was male or female.

The tadpole video was not so good. I really needed a polarizing filter to cut the glare on the water. They were huge bullfrog tadpoles, swimming around just under the surface and feeding on algae. Every once in a while, one would pop up to the surface and extend about two inches or so out of the water and then just flop right back down in the water. One of the strangest things I've ever seen. I think maybe they were transitioning from gills to lungs and they had to surface to breathe.

Yor're correct Lily, that's a male.

When I see "blue" at the wing bases, I think female, when I see black, I think male.

#1 - female Tiger Swallowtail

#2 - male Tiger Swallowtail

Hack

Drove out to the area pond / picnic area today and got these pics.

1- Turtles,, too many to count

2- Squirrle, trying to get in a trash can

3- One turtle all by itself.

4- One weird looking duck.

5- Three mallards cruising

Hack

Hack, Thanks for the butterfly ID tips. Those butterfly images are beautiful. I enjoyed seeing all the pond critters; the squirrel is a cutie. I think the last photo is Canada Geese.

Morning, Hack - Really enjoyed all the wildlife pics. #5 is Canada Geese.

The 4th pic is a Muscovy Duck. They're commonly domesticated and, in fact, I had some Muscovies as pets many years ago along with other ducks and geese. They come in a wide array of colors, each one unique, and are fairly gentle.

Also, one year my husband and I were taking a "sort of" working vacation on an 80-acre farm in Michigan...much of it wooded plus it had a huge pond... owned by his sister and brother-in-law. They bought it as a place to bring their 7 kids on occasion, but most of the time it sat empty. We needed a break badly and they suggested we spend some time there.

During our 6-months there we built, repaired, drove tractors, chopped wood and had a wonderful time. They had a large variety of Chickens, Ducks and Geese of numerous types and during Spring they were all nesting and having offspring. Occasionally we had to try to save a baby for one reason or another. The living room became a baby nursery with small enclosures...each with heating pads, food, water and more. Some also required medication on regular schedules. We also had a small kid's pool in the yard with a ramp for growing ducks and geese. They would climb into our laps and nibble on our bare toes. It was a blast!

One of our many successes was a newly hatched Muscovy that was cold and lifeless when we found him in the empty nest. Having dealt with many baby birds in the past, I suggested that my husband cradle it in his hands and carefully blow on it to warm it's tiny body. After a while with no results we were starting to feel discouraged, when suddenly it loudly "peeped" and sat up. It was a wonderful moment and my husband named him "Miracle". We watched Miracle grow for a couple of months then saw him again several months later during a visit and he still remembered his name.

Sorry for such a long story, but it brings back so many memories of all those newly hatched babies.

P-Edens and nutsaboutnature - Oh, man, I knew that - those are Canada Geese, not mallards - don't know what I was thinking,

And, nutsaboutnature, thanks for the Muscovy duck ID, I know it was something like that, but couldn't remember, glad you knew. I enjoyed the story of Miracle, wonderful what you two did.

Hack

Snapped two dragonflies at the local pond. One of them, the Slaty, I've seen around the house.

1 and 2 - Female Slaty Skimmer (remember, back to a previous post) the male has a "boot" in its hind wing, female's don't.

3 and 4- This is a smaller that average d-fly - an Eastern Amberwing.

Hack

Oh, Thanks riceke, but I'm super-familiar with the Black-capped Chickadee as we've had lots of them year 'round for many, many years. Guess I just didn't post the name since they're so common and many of us have Chickadees of assorted types in various parts of the country. I appreciate the thought, though.

nutsaboutnature...wasn't trying to be a know it all, just figured ya might have added the wrong description to the pic. I had a Carolina Wren (1st time I've seen one other than the common House Wren) build a nest in the corner of my patio cover 2 years in a row. Looked like a House but had lighter in more yellowish hue. Used to sit with my morning coffee watching her building the nest, feeding the chick but never got to see the maiden flight. She figured out my schedule and kicked them out of the nest when I wasn't there.

Riceke - I know you were trying to be helpful and I really appreciate it. I never thought you were being a know-it-all and if it sounded that way I apologize. Possibly the way I worded my sentence seemed like I was calling the Chickadee a Wren, but the Wrens I referred to were the babies Sunkissed had.

Chickadees are sometimes difficult to get a decent picture of. They're super-friendly, but they rarely sit still which is why I mentionted it in that post.

It's really cool that you could enjoy your coffee while watching the nest-building activities! Sorry you never got to see the babies.

If you get an opportunity to take pictures of any of the critters in your yard, we'd all love to see them. If not, just join in on the conversations, anytime!

One thing I've observed about chickadees is I have a communal birdfeeder, that is sometimes shared with vagabond squirrels, where I have mostly cardinals defending. I get a big smile because the cardinals will drive everything off except the chickadees. It's like a circus, one or two will come to the station, the cardinals attack and another bunch of chickadees come in from the other side, and back and forth. Finally the cardinals give up. They are brave little creatures that seem not to have any fear of the beautiful but aggressive cardinal.

That must be hysterical to watch! The Cardinals in my yard are pretty tolerant of most other birds, but within their own breed they have a definite "pecking order" and the males won't share a feeder, sometimes chasing each other all over the yard.

You're right about the Chickadees being brave. They're usually the first ones to try out a new feeder even if all the other birds avoid it.

Great pictures! This is one of my favorites from this summer. This little chippie lives under our patio, and he comes out to eat birdseed. One of the feeders is hanging near this plant, so seed falls down in it. Chippie retrieves the fallen seed.

And this is one of the bunnies that comes to the patio every evening to eat shelled peanuts. It also nibbles on grass and weeds.

Countrymom.

Those are some pretty critters. I liked your pics so much that I read the EXIF data of your bunny photo. I see you used a Nikon Coolpix P5100. It did a great job for you. Both my wife and I have a P5100 each. I use mine for time-lapse opening of flowers and watching the growth of my Blue Sky Vine. She uses hers for birthdays, wedding showers, thanksgiving - everything - says my 40D / 7D cameras with their lenses are too big for her - but I'm used to the big camera setups. Now, the P5100 seems like a toy in my hands now, but it is certainly not a toy - as your pics show, it is a quality camera.

Do you ever have any problems with chipmunks tearing up your potted plants (throwing the soil out of the pot, like they're digging for something)? - I did, until I raised my pots and sat them atop concrete blocks.

Hack

Countrymom, That chipmunk image scores a 10 on the Awe chart. Soooo cute. The bunny is a cutie too. And I agree with Hack - the colors and sharpness of the first image are exceptional.

Very cute pics, Countrymom! The little Chipmunk almost blends in with the flowers....almost...it's hard to hide those cute little fat cheeks. Love the little bunny, too.

Oh my gosh...my dreams have come true...our Squirrels are learning to grow their own food!!

As with many of you, I'm sure, our squirrels dig holes everywhere and deposit ( or "plant") food. Ours mostly plant sunflower seeds and whole corn. The corn grows quickly and usually gets mowed down when my husband does the lawn or pulled out of the flower beds by me. Last year we let one in an unused pot grow, just for fun, to see how tall it would get. We didn't expect it to produce anything as they need cross pollination (in rows). After it dried we kind of forgot about it.

Imagine our surprise yesterday to see the tiny dried ear of corn that fell off while we were working outside.

The link below is to my post from a year ago in the squirrel forum. It shows the growing stalk. Below that are a couple of pics of the ear of corn. It measures about 3-1/2" X1-1/4". Now that I've taken photos I intend to give it to the squirrels as a reward. Gee, I wonder if anyone sells tiny pairs of bib overalls....

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/p.php?pid=8761308

Oops, I accidently hit preview before posting the pics so they're in the next post.

This message was edited Aug 11, 2012 11:51 AM

Okay, here are the corn pics:

Nuts,

LOL. Those tree rats ought to be good for something! If you can't find those tiny bib overalls, there's always Photoshop. ^_^

In spite of the fact that they scarf down my birdseed, I enjoy watching the squirrels as much as the birds. I just wish they would learn to eat out of their own feeders and leave the bird feeders alone. I finally found a system they can't defeat. At least the squirrels in my yard haven't figured out how yet. The squirrel baffle on the pole gets 'em every time. It might just be a matter of time before they figure it out though.

Patti

Patti, I guess it depends on the size of the squirrel baffles. It sounds like yours work well. My husband built large cone-shaped baffles out of galvanized steel probably at least 8 years ago. He made templates so he can replace them, but they last a very long time. He replaced them once even though they still worked fine, just so they'd look better.

We have tons of squirrels and they have not climbed the poles since he put the baffles up. They don't even try any more. We give the squirrels their own food and they get the seed that drops from the feeders. They also find other food around the yard...I've even seen them gorging on the "helicopter" maple seeds that fall from my neighbors tree.

I think some people put up baffles that are too small or too low. We learned quickly. The first ones we put up worked most of the time, but some of the larger squirrels got around them. The feeders also need to be high enough or they'll leap right over the baffles.



This message was edited Aug 11, 2012 1:28 PM

TheHackster & P_Edens & nutsaboutnature - Thanks! I do like this camera. I use the old ULead to crop and enhance, and I just recently realized I can improve the focus. The focus makes a huge difference. Also, I've noticed the outdoor light makes a big difference too. Obviously the chippie was in the sunlight, so the colors were vibrant. The bunny visits near dusk, so no matter how much I focus and contrast, it is muted.

We have lots of birds, and many times the photo shots are too far away to get a clear picture, even with the zoom. I have been thinking about getting a different camera with a better zoom. Any suggestions ?

The chippie doesn't dig up the potted plants, but the brittle ones do get broken. And, of course, the birdseed he misses sprouts. This picture was taken in early summer. Now one of the marigolds is hanging because it is bent. It continues to bloom !

Countrymom,

The camera would depend on what you like to shoot and your preferences, but I can recommend the Nikon Coolpix P510 if you are interested in a Bridge type camera. It came out in February of 2012. I was helping a friend here on DG sort through a lot of different cameras and that's what she ended up getting. I think she likes it.

It has a tremendous 42X zoom, 24 to 1000mm.

It does have some drawbacks though, so it just depends on what features you like. Making a list of the things you absolutely must have (at least 15X zoom, for example), things you would like to have and things you absolutely don't want (interchangeable lenses, for example) would help to narrow it down.

You might want to come up with a few things you want and don't want and what you mostly will photograph and start a thread in the Cameras and Photography forum here. A lot of photographers monitor that thread and will likely have some good recommendations.

P_Edens - Thank you. I will check out the Cameras and Photography forum.

These two groundhogs live under our little patio. We named the big one Murray, and the little one Kit. I think perhaps Murray should have been called Marie :) They eat peanuts, apples, zucchini bread, and occasionally birdseed.

Countrymom, after a huge amount of research I narrowed it down to two bridge cameras (for my needs) and still had trouble deciding. They are the Panasonic DMC FZ150 and the CANON SX40 HS. I am in the process of playing with both of them. I originally planned to keep one and return one, but decided I'd sell one on eBay instead to give me a little more time.

I actually love them both. Each one has features I prefer over the other so in the end I'll just have to pick one. All of the pics I've posted recently have come from one or the other of these two cameras (and I've only scratched the surface of what they'll do).

They come out with new ones all the time and, in fact, Panasonic has their newest bridge camera coming out this month (for even more money!).

Like Patti said, you should decide what your priorities would be. My needs may be entirely different than yours.

Good Luck!!

Countrymom, our posts crossed so I just saw your adorable Groundhogs. Sounds like they eat VERY well. Even zucchini bread...YUM!!

nutsaboutnature - Thanks for the camera info. Glad you liked the groundhogs :)

Countrymom you just have all kinds of cute critters under that patio. Love the animal shots.

Nuts, I've had tomatoes come up in pots that I'm sure the squirrels put the seeds there. I had two surprise plants this year, one cherry and one regular tomatoes. The cherry plant actually did very well and produced many tomatoes, but the other only gave us two and died out.

Hack just WOW on the tiger swallowtails, so great, especially the male. So Sharp. I like the turtles, I'm a turtle lover.

1. Green anole
2. Oleander cat
3. This poor squirrel has a growth on the neck, but seems to be fine.
4. Happy to have zebra longwings back this year...wish they'd stay still enough for a good shot. ☺
5. Another squirrel

Hack, I don't know how I missed your Tiger Swallowtail pics and your most recent Dragonflies! Beautiful shots of the butterflies and, as always, I'm amazed how many dragonflies you get!

Sunkissed - what an incredible variety! I bet the Green Anole would blend in with a lot of foliage. That Oleander cat is very unusual looking...kind of like a porcupine. Oh, that poor little Squirrel. I hope whatever that growth is goes away. The Zebra Longwing is just beautiful and the squirrel pose on the end is so cute.
How nice of your squirrels to grow tomatoes for you!

This is one of the many Ground Squirrels that inhabit our yard.



This message was edited Aug 12, 2012 5:41 PM

Here's a couple of pics of a little Bunny that visited our yard the other night during the last bits of sunlight.

Countrymom, The groundhogs are so cute! And ditto what Nutsaboutnature said. They do eat well!

Sunkissed, What a treat to see all those photos! The cat is gorgeous and would make a great bottle brush. ^_^ Glad the squirrel is managing - poor little guy. Just love that last squirrel image - looks like he climbed up there and peeked out just to pose for you. How cute!

Nutsaboutnature, That little ground squirrel is so cute - we don't see anything like that around here. Beautiful golden light on that bunny! Perfect time for photography.

Thanks, P_Edens! Ground Squirrels are in the same family as Chipmunks and just like chipmunks, they stuff their cheeks with food to hide away for the Winter since they're partial hibernators. They live underground in burrows that they dig under just about anything. Sometimes that can cause problems, but yes, they are extremely adorable.

Great bunny and squirrel pics! The Green anole is a critter we never see around here. Pretty color.

Those are some nice pics of the ground squirrel and bunny, nuts.

I got out my Canon 100 mm macro out today when I saw this bumble bee around my snap dragons. It would land, and near about crawl all the way inside to get the goody.

Hack

Thanks Countrymom & Hack!

Great pics of the Bumble Bee, Hack! Your Snapdragon is also a beautiful shade of pink!

Great critters!!!
Nuts I love the bunny, and your harvest of corn from your squirrel. lol .
Sunkissed, do you raise butterflies? The Zebra longwings is a beautiful one. cute Oleander cat too.
Countrymom, love your pair of groundhogs. I'd be like you and feed all sort of animals, if I had my way. But some of my neighbors, would probably do them harm here...... And I saw the other day, that you had asked me quite a while back, on my facebook account, if I was the same person as on here. Yes I am.. I hardly ever go on facebook. I pop in there once in a blue moon. ;)
Hack, that be shot is really nice. I also like the shade of pink in your flower.

1. A ladybug larva
2. Pupa stage
3 and 4 are two different newly emerged ladybug.

Thanks burn,

Where are your 4 pics?

Yes, Bernadette, I'm waiting for you pics. lol