PhotoHunt: Scary

Circle of LIfe

Yesterday, heading up to town, I came across a Diamondback Rattlesnake again. Probably the one I straddled the other day. This time, I was too late to save him. I'd like to give the locals the benefit of the doubt and believe he was just in a bad spot and the running over was unintentional and unavoidable. Circumstantial evidence suggests otherwise. *sigh*

We tend to think of butterflies as dainty, delicate delights that gracefully flit from flower to flower, sipping nectar all day. The actual truth isn't quite so enchanting. Many butterflies include the juices from rotting fruit, dead animals and animal feces in their liquid diet.

I cropped the pics for the sake of the squeamish.

While I took these pictures, another truck went past, stradding the whole mess. The Tiger Swallowtail sat tight the whole time. The draft blew him over to a near 90 degree angle, but he held on, uprighted himself and went on with his dinner.

Flies, butterflies, ants, vultures, rats... the cleanup crew isn't always pretty, and is often held in contempt, but it does its job amazingly well. And there is a sort of beauty in that. I just wish we'd stop keeping them so busy.

And that's the end of this rattler's tale.

Timing is everything!

It was nice and overcast this morning, so the office window was open. I was checking email and taking a quick look at a few blogs before taking on various and sundry errands in town. Suddenly, I noticed a shrill insistent, 'kee, kee, kee' outside. It took a minute for my brain to kick into gear and remind me that I'd heard that sound before. It was a kite! Now kites are pretty close to the top of my all-time favourite birds list, so I jumped up and stumbled over to the window. There he was, perched on a snag right up by the road. Must be a Mississippi, I thought, as I have NEVER seen a Swallow-tailed (hereafter referred to as STKI) sitting still for even a second. Then my peripheral vision locked onto something moving nearby. It was a STKI! Oh man! It was a Momma hunting for breakfast for her baby, who was SITTING on the snag, screaming, 'FEED ME!'

I grabbed my bins and stepped out onto the deck. She swooped in with the appetizer, dropped it, dove, missed, and took off to try again. Baby wasn't amused. It was raining just a tad, but I thought if I could get over to the truck, I might be able to shoot from inside. Plus I'd be a bit closer than 500 feet, maybe. PTL, the rain stopped, so I took a few shots next to the truck, then went to climb in the back so I could steady the camera on the back window. In the second I moved into that tiny blind spot, he took off and headed for the back forty. I last saw him soaring over the cypress stand, heading for the national forest.

Sorry, y'all, if I got your hopes up for something fantastic. With poor lighting and about 400 +/- foot distance, this is as good as it gets. Click on the pics for slightly larger views. 8-]

I was SO tickled that I, for once, snapped at just the right nano-second to catch Momma's fly-by feeding! No kidding, she was on that branch a split second and gone again. I got one pic of her in flight, but the distance and grey sky made for a not-so-hot shot.

I never did make it to the grocery store, but did get my other errands done. And on the way home, I wheeled around a curve just in time to see a GORGEOUS Diamondback Rattler slithering across the road. Amazingly, I was able to straddle him and he went on his way without missing a beat. I backed up long enough to watch him till he stopped at the edge of the woods. He gave me a KEEP BACK look, then hurried off. About 4 feet long maybe? I should go measure the distance between my tires. 8-]

Off to watch Jeopardy, then dig up some supper. God bless y'all!

My good deed for the week

The other day, I was coming up our road and spotted a huge snake in the road. Naturally, I had to stop for pics. Boy, was I surprised when I got close enough to see that it was a Diamondback Rattlesnake. I'm pretty sure that's the first one I've seen up here. While I was watching and shooting it, another truck came along. Most people around here go out of their way to run over snakes, so I pulled up in front of it, on the wrong side of the road, and made them go around. They started to back up and turn around when they saw it, but I stayed put till it had slithered off into the woods.

The next day, I got an even bigger surprise! I was heading up to town and spotted, about a mile or so up our dirt road, a black cat ambling along the roadside.My first thought was how well-fed he looked. But something just seemed odd about him. He sat just for a second, still with his back to me, then got up and turned to go into the woods. HUH?! What on earth? That's not a cat! . . . . . It's a MINK! DAWG! I wish I'd stopped and used my binoculars for a better look. That is definitely a first for me.

Well, other than the deer, who now come by daily - sometimes twice - that pretty much wraps up my wildlife report for this week.

Y'all have a JESUS-filled day! ^i^