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my cat is norris posted:That's crazy! To be clear ghost pipe are parasitic on mushroom mycelia, typically members of genus Russula. Those orange ones are likely to be chanterelles too which means you’ve officially found more than me this year, goddamn drought.
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Jul 22, 2022 15:26
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| # ? Jun 3, 2024 17:55 |
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I had this pretty lil' spider hanging out above my car the other day.  It's a shame that the internet has ruined me so the only thing I see is a cat face on its back. Still, bright white coloration was really wild to see in person. Used to be terrified of them as a kid, now they are just fascinating.
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Jul 22, 2022 17:49
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I've never seen the cat face before and now I will never miss it.
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Jul 22, 2022 18:15
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Baby lizard season! I love these little guys. I feel like I made a very similar post almost exactly a year ago. This one my wife rescued from our living room. Tiny lizard squeezed under a gap in our front door only to find itself unable to get traction and make forward progress on our laminate floor and exhausted itself. Relocated to the garden with a leaf full of water and a plastic friend. 
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Jul 25, 2022 00:18
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it took me a bit to spot the actual lizard there 
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Jul 25, 2022 11:59
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Crazy Ferret posted:I had this pretty lil' spider hanging out above my car the other day.
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Jul 25, 2022 12:37
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 very busy tiny guy
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Jul 25, 2022 13:09
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Slugworth posted:Why do these tiny little spiders create unbelievably large webs? I'm not imagining it, am I? Every once in awhile I'll notice a thread spanning like 20 feet, and bam, one of those little black and white guys hanging out on it.
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Jul 25, 2022 17:29
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So, unanticipated 2nd brood of Polyphemus resulted in this fairly magical scene https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbfGb-g9RXs and this unseemly one  also about 400 more eggs than I have trees for.  Anybody in the Metro-East/St. Louis area want about 30 eggs? They eat Oak, Sweet Gum, Soft Maples, Grape, Birch, Hickory, or Fruit Trees. Take about 6 weeks to go from sesame seed sized eggs to breakfast-sausage sized fatterpillars. Do well in an uncrowded critter keeper, do better on an outdoor tree branch with a mesh net over it to keep the caterpillars in and the predators out. Takes about 5 minutes a day to check on them, dump frass, and get them fresh leaves. These will cocoon and sit over the winter to emerge spring 2023.  
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Jul 25, 2022 22:29
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 Don't see pelicans around here too often.  Very interesting behaviour here. We heard a cacophony of corvids outside the window and when we went to check it out there was a magpie pinning another magpie to the ground (bottom of frame) with a bunch of other magpies (and one crow) yelling at them from the chairs and nearby trees. It was almost as if they were egging them on to fight or something. I considered intervening but once they noticed us everyone took off, including the one that was pinned.  The rare Northern Alberta toilet spider. Don't worry, I fished it out.   This bee was super into that rock in particular.
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Jul 26, 2022 16:01
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Pelicans range pretty surprisingly far inland - we get them here at some times of year and we're about 60 miles from the coast. Lots of gulls in the wintertime, too. And cormorants just don't give a gently caress - I've seen them in central Arizona, way farther away from any ocean and at over 5000 feet of elevation.
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Jul 26, 2022 19:23
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 saw this handsome fellow hanging out. Let me get real close with my phone too
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Jul 27, 2022 23:34
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Tunicate posted:
im perennially amazed by how good phones are at macro stuff now my pixel 2 is taking very good closeups 5 years down the road, really spectacular
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Jul 28, 2022 02:32
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We have Western Fence Lizards in our back yard. There is one larger one which is noticeably longer and also thicker, and two that are a little smaller: Here is a pic of the biggest one and one of the smaller ones, apologies for the low resolution. I took this with an old iPhone and I could not get too close:  A couple of days after this, I saw this big one and one of the smaller ones as pictured here mating, in this same spot. Then, not a week later, too soon to have been the result of this union, I saw a tiny little one on the side of the stucco wall of our house, during the sun side time of the day. There is nothing here for scale, but this one was about the length of a quarter and a half, counting the tail. It did not move as I approached, which I assume was an innate instinct to freeze motionless to avoid predators. I hope he made it--I know the little ones like this get snapped up by birds all the time.  He is tiny. But only about two weeks later, from a distance I saw another little one run out from under this stack of disused flower pots we have in the corner of the yard, run under this rickety wooden fence we have, and then come back inside, this time running up the wooden fence for a while, before disappearing back under the pots. I don't know how fast these grow, but I feel like it could not have been the same youngster I saw two weeks later, because he looked to be an inch longer or so. So I feel like we have the start of a colony back here. I think they are very cool, and more than a little cute. One of the smaller (not baby) ones likes to hang out in one particular spot every day from like 5-7 PM. It's on the side of the wall, right near or behind a wooden trellis we made, on and over which grows a rose bush. This is not on the sun side time, its when its in the shade, but he or she is regularly right there, between 5-7 PM every day. I have seen it dart down into the grass and then climb back up the wall, and I thought perhaps it was eating something. Then, today, not an hour ago, I was sitting out there and he jumped off the wall, between the boards of the trellis, straight into the grass, and a moment later ran back up on the wall. I think he must have been pouncing on something. I dunno what they eat, how long they live, and if they lay eggs or have live birth. I know I could google this and I probably will now that I got off my rear end and made this post, but I thought it would be more fun to get some goon responses. How long do they live? And what will happen to them when it gets cold? I know they like to sun themselves to gather energy, but even here it does get cold by reptilian standards in the winter. I sure hope they will not die, because I love them. I have also put out a small little soy sauce dipping-size bowl of water over by the flower pots I think they hang out underneath, but they don't seem to be drinking very much. Do lizards even need water?!? Surely all animals must drink water. I am beside myself with questions, and humbly beg the thread for answers.
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Jul 28, 2022 04:13
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Milkweed Bugs! They've returned, and in greater numbers. The babies start getting cute in another molt and are going to give me a massive Swamp Milkweed seed crop. In less pleasant critternews, the invasive Spotted Lanternflies have finally made it here. 
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Jul 29, 2022 13:41
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Katydid spotted. I find them a lot cuter than grasshoppers (but they're both pretty cute).
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Jul 29, 2022 14:18
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MrMojok posted:We have Western Fence Lizards in our back yard. Lay eggs, eat bugs, they'll go dormant over the winter someplace cozy.
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Jul 29, 2022 15:02
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Here's a neat one - robber fly and its lunch. Never actually seen one here before (high altitude rural GA).
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Aug 1, 2022 20:43
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Araneus diadematus
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Aug 2, 2022 06:41
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I always feel sad when I have to get into something where an orb weaver has made a magnificent web, and I have no choice but to destroy it to get into whatever is being blocked by said magnificent web.  It's like I'm destroying a work of art.
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Aug 2, 2022 09:24
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Various species of orb weaver spiders and their web decorations:    
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Aug 2, 2022 09:31
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Bula Vinaka posted:I always feel sad when I have to get into something where an orb weaver has made a magnificent web, and I have no choice but to destroy it to get into whatever is being blocked by said magnificent web. If it makes you feel better they seem to work pretty dang quickly to rebuild! One time my grandmother knocked down a web of one blocking her cabinet on the front porch, and within 4-6 hours it had built a new web on the front door in protest, lol. Industrious lil dudes.
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Aug 2, 2022 13:01
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We had a big storm over the weekend and things got all stirred up in the creek where I usually walk my dog. A bee taking some recovery time.  BIG highlight here! I love inverts and I've recently noticed pieces of crayfish in the creek, but this is the first one I've seen that was intact and alive. My dog tried to sniff it and got his lip pinched, but it didn't break the skin. I relocated the crayfish back to the creek by having it hang onto a stick. They aren't native to the area (central/northern Alberta) but they're neat and they probably can't do too much harm to the ecosystem. Dead animals/gross stuff behind the spoiler tags.  I didn't even know there were fish in there, but I found a couple dead ones and managed to save one who was struggling in a shallow puddle.   The small rodents had a rough time of it. I'm not sure how the second one ended up looking like that but it was pretty gnarly.
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Aug 2, 2022 18:21
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Spotted this guy. Wrong shade of green for camouflage my dude!
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Aug 2, 2022 23:05
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Chinston Wurchill posted:They aren't native to the area (central/northern Alberta) but they're neat and they probably can't do too much harm to the ecosystem.  Crayfish are usually pretty damaging to the ecosystem wherever they're introduced.
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Aug 3, 2022 00:17
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Tunicate posted:Spotted this guy. Wrong shade of green for camouflage my dude! When i think of "lizard" its these guys, they are just so common and so... lizard
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Aug 3, 2022 00:38
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Bula Vinaka posted:I always feel sad when I have to get into something where an orb weaver has made a magnificent web, and I have no choice but to destroy it to get into whatever is being blocked by said magnificent web.
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Aug 3, 2022 02:47
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Random observation re: orb weavers. Do you reckon the titular Charlotte would have been an orb weaver? She could spell words in her web!
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Aug 3, 2022 18:04
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Silver Falcon posted:Random observation re: orb weavers. Do you reckon the titular Charlotte would have been an orb weaver? She could spell words in her web! yeah, in fact they're (*argiope aurantia, specifically) colloquially referred to as Writing Spiders 
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Aug 3, 2022 18:09
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Gunshow Poophole posted:yeah, in fact they're (*argiope aurantia, specifically) colloquially referred to as Writing Spiders That is hella cool, thank you! That was one of my favorite books (and movies) as a child, but it never occurred to me until just now to wonder what species Charlotte actually was.
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Aug 3, 2022 19:02
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Charlotte's name in the book is Charlotte A. Cavatica, which stands for Araneus cavaticus, the barn spider.
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Aug 3, 2022 20:18
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I was watching my brothers house the past week and a half and a couple days ago a chili plant that wasn't doing good in the house got stripped after I left the door open and fell asleep. This would not stand, because he has a giant ghost pepper plant that is producing like crazy, but I couldn't find the culprit. I went to water it this morning and one of the ghost's branches was topped. Thankfully it was just some leaves and a couple flowers, no chilis, but I was pissed and started a hunt. What resulted was an arrest, trial, and execution. Pictured are the culprit and executioner.  
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Aug 3, 2022 23:01
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dang, rest in peace
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Aug 3, 2022 23:12
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Silver Falcon posted:Random observation re: orb weavers. Do you reckon the titular Charlotte would have been an orb weaver? She could spell words in her web! The book was in fact inspired by the web decorations orb weavers make.
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Aug 4, 2022 00:41
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MrQwerty posted:hornworms cool thing about the meadow and a pretty complete ecosystem out back is that these motherfuckers get got before they can even make a dent 
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Aug 4, 2022 02:33
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one of my favorite outside spiders managed to sneak in and is now the new grow room mascot https://i.imgur.com/N5Ddx6z.mp4 maybe not quite as cute as a jumping spider w/ water on its head
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Aug 6, 2022 16:35
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Saved a lime hawk moth looking for a spot to pupate from getting squished on the sidewalk.
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Aug 6, 2022 18:32
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poverty goat posted:one of my favorite outside spiders managed to sneak in and is now the new grow room mascot i love orchard spiders And what a cool and unique caterpillar! Some porch friends:  pretty cool assassin bug that was cleaning his antennae  these milkweed beetles have grown considerably in the last couple of weeks  pretty big leafhopper chilling nearby  bald-faced hornets right off the porch, oops they picked the perfect spot to go unnoticed for so long and now I'm tempted just to let them stick around until winter (but we may call pest control for these guys, i guess they prey on honeybees?)
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Aug 6, 2022 20:35
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my cat is norris posted:they picked the perfect spot to go unnoticed for so long and now I'm tempted just to let them stick around until winter (but we may call pest control for these guys, i guess they prey on honeybees?) They don't really prey on honey bees, unfortunately. The adults will hunt caterpillars and other soft bodied insects or carrion from dead animals to bring back to their young. Adults themselves will eat nectar, fruit juice, and maybe some pollen.
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Aug 6, 2022 21:20
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| # ? Jun 3, 2024 17:55 |
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Oh good then gently caress it, they can hang out.
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Aug 6, 2022 22:04
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