Thursday, March 31, 2005

Wild Critters

Today it's raining buckets, so here are some pictures from earlier in the week.


Male Falcate Orange Tip butterflies jousting for the attention of a female.


A green anole that kept a close watch on me. Like a chameleon, he can change color in the blink of an eye (from drab brown to bright green). This one was not willing to demonstrate.


Some tiny snails in the creek. I don't have a book that descibes snails but if anyone knows their name please leave a comment or email me.


These muskrats were too far away to get a good picture. I really should learn to tie up the dog if I'm going to try sneaking up on wild critters.

If you look closely you can see the very long tail of the one on the left - it's shining in the sun.

10 comments:

Wayne Hughes said...

Wow - I've been trying to just get close enough to the falcates just to see what they were! I had the two spots on the female's back pegged and knew there was something orange about the suitors. I've come nowhere close to getting a pic though!

Thanks for the ID!

Happy and Blue 2 said...

Another fine group of pictures. I'm so impressed..

swamp4me said...

I posted a comment earlier today but apparently Blogger ate it. The gist of it was that being just barely outside their range, I am envious of you for having anoles! I particularly enjoy male anoles when they are defending territory or displaying for females -- all that head bobbing and dewlap flashing.

Rurality said...

Thanks y'all.

Wayne, I confess that I didn't realize that they were even the same species at first. It's hard to photograph the males 'cause they don't want to sit still. Too excited about spring I guess LOL.

S4M, I love that dewlap flashing, it's hilarious. I was hoping this one would do it, but no luck. I think every time I've seen one doing that, he's been green. Another thing that I thought was 2 different species at first!

I looked out the window today during a break in the rain, and saw one of the muskrats again. Ran outside with the camera, but he had disappeared.

Rhodent said...

Love your pictures...especially the green anole. We used to have load of the here in Florida, but they have been pushed out by the larger Cuban lizard. I miss the green ones!

Rhodent said...

Love your pictures...especially the green anole. We used to have load of the here in Florida, but they have been pushed out by the larger Cuban lizard. I miss the green ones!

Rurality said...

Is that an introduced species? I know FL has a lot of introduced anoles.

Unknown said...

I too love the anole. on the coast, i used to see little lizzards all the time, but not where we are now. although we have a lot of frogs and ants. . .

Patti said...

On the dog... I have the same problem, times 3. I try to sneak out the back door sometimes to snap a quick picture of a bird I've seen, and suddenly I'm surrounded by a maelstrom of sound... dogs again. The birds add a nice percussive undertone to the dogs' joyful song, as their wings beat out a rhythm that slowly fades... flap flap flap flap. {sigh} Maybe next time.

Anonymous said...

Brown vs. green anoles

Hope this sheds light. Indeed, the Cuban/brown anoles are exotics that are giving the green anoles a run for their money.