Friday, November 22, 2013

Baby Gators at the Visitor's Center Pond

 There was a whole hatch of yearling baby gators at St. Marks recently. They were so small and I love their patterns.



Thursday, November 21, 2013

Two-Headed Eagle?


This pair of bald eagles were two of the five we saw one evening recently at the lighthouse. 

Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Can't You Read the Sign?



As far as I was concerned, that gate was BLOCKED. It was suppertime and I was not going to be on the menu!

Tuesday, November 19, 2013

He Was Framed

I first saw this large hawk fly down and land in our front yard. It picked up something and flew to the mailbox where it perched until I got my camera. Of course, as I approached it flew but only into the cul-de-sac. I am fairly certain it is a red-shouldered hawk, dressed as a pumpkin for a procrastinator's Halloween.


Monday, November 18, 2013

Mailbox Monday: Colorful Cow

We came across this colorful cow mailbox in a shop in Thomasville, GA. 



It is made by an Australian man in Vietnam.


Saturday, November 9, 2013

Killing the Monster Moth Larva


This caterpillar was dying at our son's house. It was quite large and I am still not certain what kind of moth it would have made. It was almost as large as a hickory horned devil but the colors were all wrong. But possibly that was due to the fact that it was dying. The yellow spots are the sphericals that it breathes through. But the white spots are the eggs of a parasitic wasp that consume the caterpillar as they develop.

Saturday, November 2, 2013

November 1st Was All Snakes Day

November 1st is actually All Saints' Day but since we saw several snakes that evening, I have renamed it.
Here are the two notable ones that I photographed.
Initially, we thought they were both moccasins. When  I consulted this webpage, I learned otherwise.


This young snake was only about 18 inches long. It is a banded water snake. 


Looking at the photo below, we can see the pupil is round. 


This is the second snake,  a cottonmouth moccasin. It was a larger snake, though we never saw all of it. 


The moccasin's pupil is vertical. 


But I don't recommend getting that close to check it out lest you become prematurely one of the saints honored on this day.  I took these pictures from safely inside the pick-up.