Suburban wildlife

[urbpan]

While doing yard work in the sun (in between week long bursts of rain) we encountered many interesting animals! Here's one of two American toads we found.



After posing for the picture, we set him back into the garden to eat bugs and such.


For some reason many insects rest on our exterior basement wall, where they are pretty easy to photograph. Unfortunately I wasn't able to get close enough to get a shot of this bumblebee which was good enough to use for an identification. I did get a few shots of other creatures that are out there being scrutinized by smarter people than me. Hopefully they'll soon become part of the 2012 100 species project.


Here are some mica caps growing from the same spot where they did last year at this time. This isn't actually a surprise or a coincidence. The fungus that produced these mushrooms is a long-living organism, slowly digesting the buried stump of a long-dead tree in my yard. You can click the link on the word "mica caps" above and see last year's mushrooms and learn a bit more about the species.


This garter snake is much livelier than the one that appeared in the 100 species list from last year. We had to relocate him a couple times to protect him from harassing dogs. I'm very happy to have snakes in my yard.

Comments

[bill_sheehan.livejournal.com]

Of course you have snakes. Look at that fine fat toad!

[badnoodles.livejournal.com]

Toads! Toads! I love toads. They always look so grumpy and warty and adorable. Although the American is supposed to be distributed in my area, I think I've only ever seen Gulf Coast toads in person.

Also, I think that's actually a carpenter bee, with the solid black abdomen.

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

Pretty sure there was fur on that abdomen, but even on the full-size original I can't be sure.

[octogirlie.livejournal.com]

At our previous house, we had a black snake that lived under the foundation. I always thought of it as good luck.

[perspicuity.livejournal.com]

warts! :D

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[rudbekia.livejournal.com]

Toads and snakes! I'm a little envious.

[urb-banal.livejournal.com]

We once lived in the path of some frog migration. The neighbourhood installed metal covered bridges so they could get across a road to and from the pond. The kids were small and it was so exciting in the spring! No snakes though.

[morgi.livejournal.com]

We have Fowler's toads in our yard, but I haven't seen a single snake since we moved to Indiana ten years ago. This makes me sad.