Category: Wildlife – Invertebrates

Posts in this category contain references to insects, spiders, worms, aquatic creatures such as clams, mussels, jellyfish, octopuses, etc.

Snail

We enjoyed on-and-off rain showers all day, and one consequence besides making the trees happy was the appearance of this guy. Or girl. Who knows? Anyway, it was on our back porch and seemed to be begging me to take its picture. So I did. Snails can be very persuasive. In case you’re wondering, the… Continue reading Snail

Camera Sunday

I spent some time last Sunday afternoon wandering around the grounds, camera in hand, looking for photo ops. As usual, once I focused on the trees instead of the forest*, a number of interesting details emerged, most of which involved flying creatures of the six-legged variety. This insect goes by the rather unappealing name of… Continue reading Camera Sunday

Arachnophotos

I’ve never made a secret of my dislike for spiders. There are people for whom I have great respect who think spiders make great pets, but I’d just as soon invite a family of cobras to live in our bedroom as tolerate a single eight legged freak. We recently transplanted a couple of tall junipers… Continue reading Arachnophotos

Mantid cannibalism “fairly rare,” except when it’s not

We’ve all heard stories about the tendency of the female praying mantis to bite the head off the male after mating, right? Well, that’s a gross exaggeration, and unfair to the species. In point of fact, the female bites off the head before mating, which, according to this article, spurs the guy on. Hard to… Continue reading Mantid cannibalism “fairly rare,” except when it’s not

Dragonfly

Debbie spotted this dragonfly as we were walking around the pond earlier today. I didn’t have my camera with me, but we returned about 30 minutes later and the insect was still hanging around (actually, there were two of them, chasing one another with unknown motivations). According to this website, this is a Scarlet Darter… Continue reading Dragonfly

High Wire Act

This walking stick was hanging from an electrical line over our B&B at Canyon Lake last week, barely in reach of my zoom lens. I don’t know what he thought he’d find up there, and he seemed to make a great target for a hungry bird, but I guess he knew what he was doing.… Continue reading High Wire Act