The Nature Thread

I was in a caliche quarry in South Texas, down near George West, hunting petrified wood and agate. I started digging in the wall of the quarry to see what I could uncover. No good petrified wood, just this skink who was hibernating in a cavity in the rocks when I uncovered him. I posed him in a variety of positions before he warmed up enough to dash off.

Bull frog in a pool, Atlanta Georgia, June 2012. If you are a very lucky young maiden, kissing this specimen might just turn him into your handsome young prince !!!!! CHEERS.........BOB

My grandson found this little pink caterpillar in the yard.

This one is actually a test as to whether we can keep your opinions to ourselves.

What beautiful irony!!!

Hi,
here is just a smal part of creatures that have crossed my way( and I had a camera with me ).


[picasaweb.google.com]

[picasaweb.google.com]

Enjoy

Boris

Lovely slide show Boris, Thanks!!!

Several weeks ago, while driving, I heard a slight thud against the grill of my car. After the short trip I investigated and found these 2 insects just as is....still attached to the grill. There is a CICADA KILLER WASP still attached to her CICADA victim. The Cicada Killer Wasp is the largest wasp in the US. It is a solitary ground dwelling wasp which stings and paralyzes cicadas (usually the 2 year variety) then flies with them back to her underground nest where she lays eggs on them. The wasp larvae feed on the paralyzed cicada until they grow and molt into the adult wasps. The most amazing part of all this, is that the cicadas weight about twice as much as the wasps yet the wasp still manages to fly with its prey for considerable distances back to the underground nest. CHEERS........BOB

bob
the wasp you show is not so solitary as they say last year one made a nest alongside one of my water features in the yard i thought it was neat and it didn't bother us but this year a hole heard have showed up and made a nest in my back stoop Ive been swatting the darn things out of the sky with a tennis racket seams their immune to most pesticides and get aggressive when you invade there territory ( my back door) so far Ive killed 7 from the same hole and still more are going in and out bet i look funny to passersby with my tennis racket chasing them around everyday lol
mike

MIKE There are several species and subspecies of cicada killers in the US. According to Wikipedia and my old college entomology book, true cicada killers are solitary (altho several can have nests in a rather small general area). Several other ground dwelling species are often confused with the cicada killer species. These other wasps may be communal. Check all this out by googling them. CHEERS............BOB

Yellow Orbweb Spider

Yellow Orbweb Spider

Monarch Butterfly

OK Everyone, , , , here's a bug like nothing i've ever seen before (except in a Si-Fi movie)
Anyone got a guess on it? I found it on the rim of one of my rock buckets, it's about 2 cm long,
seems to hold on by some suction or sticky underside, doesn't move much when poked, I found
this here in the North East US.
Top overall photo


Head from underside (at least I think it's the head)


Bottom overall photo


Any one with bug powers?

Wayne Corwin

Wayne,
It looks like one of the Pre-Cambrian fossils of the Burgess Shale! Don't have a clue what it is. Really strange and cool at the same time. No spiders for me, guys.

Linda Smith
Rock Mama and Boogie Boarding Grandma

Hi Wayne,

Google images Green Crowned Slug Caterpillar looks like your critter. Interesting but think you can keep him.

Cliff

Thanks Cliff
Thats it exactally.
Wayne

Wayne, that thing looks cool as a cucumber! I'm still admiring the fashionably pink one that Glenn posted above.

Thanks all for posting great stuff!

regards,
stephanie

Humpback whale off Cape Cod. - Regards - Brad.

Hi All,

attached a Red Admiral and a Little Fox, seen some days ago in the Harz Mountains, Lower Saxony, Germany, approx. 600 m asl. (Interessting: 30 years ago at the same place were observed Little Fox and Peacock Butterfly. Maybe a result of global warming.)

All the Best! Georg

The butterfly you have photographed isn't a Monarch.

Brad P, The picture of the gulls and Humpback whale that you posted may have more to it than you realize. Along the California coast, aggressive gulls have learned to repeatedly peck on areas of the whale's skin eventually causing open sores. Then they feed on the whale flesh each time the whale surfaces for air. The whales then try to stay submerged longer and eventually become weakened and tired out with skin infections. Not sure if this is happening along the East Coast. CHEERS.........BOB