That place is crawling with life.
2 Likes
There is definitely a lot of biodiversity here. Thatâs only creeps up into civilization too. Get off into the deltas and go somewhere where the nearest house is 13+ miles away and it really explodes.
Itâs â The Nature of Oaks: The Rich Ecology of our Most Essential Native Treesâ by Doug Tallamy. I also really want to get. â Dr. Michael Steele and me as we discuss his new book "Oak Seed Dispersal: A Study in Plant-Animal Interactionsâ. But have some others to read first.
Finally got the book Iâve been waiting for. Looking forward to reading it.
3 Likes
An adult kookaburra feeding it young on chicken at my window.
Free stock video of adult feeding young, kookaburras (pexels.com)
Everyday I have kookaburras and butcher birds come to my windows for chicken. They give me a call, mostly a laugh and they have trained me up well. I immediately get them some chicken.
4 Likes
Amazing! Thanks
You are welcome.
I am going to try and get their laughing sounds and post them too.
1 Like
Here are my reptilian house guests.
Within 24 hours of mice coming in, the snakes come in and they are very efficient at tidying up the mice. It usually only takes them a couple of days, a week tops.
4 Likes
You certainly do have interesting wildlife there.
2 Likes
Just found a beautiful Broad Banded Water Snake.
You can tell itâs a water snake by itâs location in south Alabama with vertical lines on its face and chin, itâs round pupil, and after its anal plate itnhas a double row of tail scales.
It only bit me twice in the initial process until it calmed down.
1 Like
And the color theme for today, the 16th of April, is green and white. (The white also includes ten white-tailed deer, if you look closely. It includes ten if you donât look closely, as well. 
)
3 Likes
And it flew before I could get a good picture of it just now, but imagine a brilliant red male cardinal in the top of the trumpet vine bush in the foreground. It popped against the more muted colors of the background, kaboom!! (The deer were long gone, however. 
)
2 Likes
About a 5-6 foot American alligator. What was surprising to me is the amount of people in front of me who walked by without ever seeing it despite
It being just 10 feet away.
3 Likes
Also found a really beautiful large mud snake. Now my hike is over lol. Itâs tail is really hard and pointy and would poke and search with it.
It was a great hike overall today.
3 Likes
Iâm willing myself to see ALL of the snake posts here in hopes that it will lesson my aversion to them 
7 Likes
I always tell people this.
âThe oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknownâ - HP Lovecraft.
The main reason why people tend to be afraid of snakes is because they are something unknown to them. But as you learn their natural history, and see what important niches they play in nature you can begin to know them and appreciate them.
Then if you start learning the species. When hiking a snake is not some unknown possibly venomous serpent that wants to kill you. Itâs the very gentle semi aquatic pokey tailed non venomous Mud snake. Eventually youâll recognize the different species and they wonât be so scary anymore. Especially if you get to where you handle some, snd get bitten dozens of times, youâll start to realize they are not bad.
I also tell people that , at least for the majority of snakes in USA, they are less harmful than a kitten. Even have a kitten attack your feet while wear socks. You feel their claws and teeth. It hurts but goes away pretty fast. It can happen dozens of times in a week and youâll still poke your sock covered foot and wiggle it making your cat pounce and attack it.
The snake bites are a fraction as painful.
If you notice when Iâm holding them, itâs very open, and they have plenty of room. They could easily bite me if they want too. Some snakes , and rightfully so, will be aggressive when being handled because they think youâre a threat. But often they are calm after a moment. But mainly people just need to know them enough to not go into a crazy fight or flight mode and kill them. Just need to leave them alone and let them be. If they make you uncomfortable, handling them may just result in them being dropped or slung.
One reason why I handle them so much is because I want to help bring awareness to those who fear them that they donât need too.
I also often use them as a door opening to sharing the gospel. Itâs also fun to mess with people and just hold it look at someone walking by and asking them â what do I do what do I do this thing sprung up like 8 feet at my faceâ but I also tell them Iâm joking since it would be counter productive.
2 Likes
I would warn you about picking up a snake in Australia. You have to be quad triple sure what it is. We have the deadliest snake in the world here. A single bit is fatal. I got pythons in my house and I would love to pick one up but a python bite is still pretty bad. A guy who did some work for me building a rock wall showed me his left upper arm that a python bit, a carpet snake he said it was, and he had barely much muscle left on the inside of his arm. It had been completely dissolved away.
3 Likes
@SkovandOfMitaze has alligators and we in West Michigan have salamanders of 3 inchesâŚbut beautiful. We saw this under a branch on the forest floor, and a land snail I canât identify yet, on a morning walk with my 7 and 10 year olds this a.m.
4 Likes
Rhabdomyolysis, or any muscle necrosis, is definitely something to be worried about. We have some deadly snakes here as well, including coral snakes. But regardless, I have a checklist to go through concerning snakes before I handle them.
2 Likes
I used to be afraid of snakes too before I built my house in the rainforest.
About a year or more ago I saw something near my bed head on the floor under a side table with stuff on it. I thought it was a stick. I thought Iâll check it out in the morning. In the morning it was gone. I was a bit surprised. How can a stick grow legs and walk during the night?
Any way about a week later I saw it again and this time I took a picture just to satisfy myself that I wasnât imagining it. When I looked closely at the photo I realized it was Estia the python that comes in regularly. I put the bigger light on and she got fussed and slithered away and out the window. So the first time I had gone to bed with a snake just below my bed head. I couldnât believe it even though now I am not afraid of it.
1 Like
I wonder if I could borrow her to help with pests we get living near a year around creek? Iâm seriously thinking of making a terrier my next dog just for that purpose.
1 Like
Lately Iâve been back to posting larger things but I still really enjoy the smaller things that are often right under our noses but we are fooled. Such as this caterpillar that mimics a dead part of a leaf. Iâm not sure of the species.
These are of the pupa stage of a ladybug. Most likely the typical Asian ladybug. Itâs the stage after the larvae stage. The next stage will be adult. I also got a pic from a bit further back showing both at the same time though because of their sizes itâs harder to see them.
The last image is one of my favorites of the MudSnake that I did not originally share here. It shows off its red eyes and forked tongue.
3 Likes