creatures from around the yard

SJ you really have a busy yard!

Wow! Thanks, SJ - I have never seen one before now! How big are they, usually?

Judging by the brown color on the back of the one above, it is young. It never came out from the Dog Fennel plant any farther, but I'd guess this one was about 18" in length. Adults grow to about 3ft in length.

suspot, you have no idea how true your statement is. My yard is filled with all kinds of plants and animals. I should break out the old video camera with the night vision, and see what I can find during the night. I see raccoon tracks almost daily, occasionally deer tracks, saw a fox in the driveway a while back. Fiddler crabs, other snakes, skinks, plenty of birds, cats, other dogs, yellow jacket nest, ants, Ant Lions, Anoles, butterflies, beetles, Hooded Mergansers (ducks), Hawks, saw a Sora (bird) the other day, I could go on. Did I mention ants? There are ants everywhere -- fun to watch build their mounds. Wish I had a time lapse camera of the close up of that. I'm have enough that I am starting a blog about it.

SJ, do you have a nature guide that you refer to to ID all of the critters? I have looked at several online, but perhaps you know of a particularly good one for the area? Thanks!

A good one for this area is the National Audubon Society -- Field Guide to Florida, which is available locally, at Sundog Books in Seaside.

Thanks! I'm in Texas right now, but look forward to hopefully buying "local SoWal" when I (hopefully) move back to paradise. I love being able to document the critters.

Thanks for the pics, SJ!

We had a legless lizard that our neighbors called a skank, sitting right in front of our front door. Of course, we (who are still fairly new) freaked out & thought it was a little snake. Thank goodness for the neighbors who set Mr. OM straight on that one, while having a good laugh at us!

Thanks for posting, SJ. Interesting creature.
Does Florida have a "Backyard Wildlife Certification" Program? Sounds like to me your place would be a certification waiting to happen. My yard is certified, and I don't have near all the stuff going on that you do. It's just kind of a cool thing to have a little plaque that says your yard is a "Certified Backyard Wildlife Habitat". You don't get any special recognition or anything...except maybe from the critters.

SJ, that is so cool. I'm glad he was at your house, not mine, because I might have freaked. Very neat.

And don't get me started on lubber grasshoppers, aka "Georgia Thumpers." I could write a book. They will gnaw anything you have planted, especially young plants with tender shoots, right down to the roots.

One appropriate story...one of my brothers grew up to have a successful career in the USAF/NSA and has a second successful career in whatever it is he does (can't tell us or he would have to shoot us). As a young boy, he would sit cross-legged on the ground and talk to a snake. At the same time, he was absolutely terrified of the Georgia Thumpers, especially when they would hatch and totally cover tall weeds. He'd start crying "Overhoppers! Overhoppers!" and my mom would have to pick him up and carry him.

Thirty-something years later, the guys in the dark suits are interviewing all the family in preparation for my brother's security clearance, and my mother TELLS THE NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY that he is afraid of grasshoppers.

The Lubbers are welcome to eat all of the grass, weeds, ivy, briars, fallen leaves in my yard, that they want. There is plenty to go around.

Mom's can do things like that, can't they?

SJ, did you ever see the grasshopper-thingies over near Prince Ave in Athens? We had a yard full of them on Nantahala Ave... they were black with red stripes/spots, I think. Someone said they were an experiment gone bad and let loose on that side of town.... All I know is that if you went out the door, they would come for you, hopping straight towards you! I never got to enjoy the outdoors at that house!

SJ, that is so cool. I'm glad he was at your house, not mine, because I might have freaked. Very neat.

And don't get me started on lubber grasshoppers, aka "Georgia Thumpers." I could write a book. They will gnaw anything you have planted, especially young plants with tender shoots, right down to the roots.

One appropriate story...one of my brothers grew up to have a successful career in the USAF/NSA and has a second successful career in whatever it is he does (can't tell us or he would have to shoot us). As a young boy, he would sit cross-legged on the ground and talk to a snake. At the same time, he was absolutely terrified of the Georgia Thumpers, especially when they would hatch and totally cover tall weeds. He'd start crying "Overhoppers! Overhoppers!" and my mom would have to pick him up and carry him.

Thirty-something years later, the guys in the dark suits are interviewing all the family in preparation for my brother's security clearance, and my mother TELLS THE NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY that he is afraid of grasshoppers.

OM, never saw those, but I was once walking through Virginia and came upon a stretch of a few hundred feet where they grasshoppers filled the path, and as I approached, like a wave, they hopped out of the path, like the parting of the sea. It was eerily cool, just the sound they made as they hopped out of the way, only one step away from getting squashed.

Thanks for the pics, SJ!

We had a legless lizard that our neighbors called a skank, sitting right in front of our front door. Of course, we (who are still fairly new) freaked out & thought it was a little snake. Thank goodness for the neighbors who set Mr. OM straight on that one, while having a good laugh at us!

I've know several women who may have earned the title of "skank"! I think you meant to say skink!

If she was in the South, she probably heard the southern draw, sounding like skank. I think all of the Skinks have legs, don't they?

If she was in the South, she probably heard the southern draw, sounding like skank. I think all of the Skinks have legs, don't they?

Yep, they said skank, which made us laugh because of the other meaning of it. Our neighbor is quite Southern. This didn't have legs but it wasn't a snake.

OM, never saw those, but I was once walking through Virginia and came upon a stretch of a few hundred feet where they grasshoppers filled the path, and as I approached, like a wave, they hopped out of the path, like the parting of the sea. It was eerily cool, just the sound they made as they hopped out of the way, only one step away from getting squashed.

That does sound cool. These wouldn't hop away, they'd hop towards you. I was so excited about living in Normaltown and then got a yard full of freakish bugs!!!!!:rofl: Oh yeah, and the drummer for Five-Eight living next door to us.

Nice pic. Did you get a Nikon?

SJ, do you have any carpenter bees? I am fascinated with these bees. Last spring I had one nest and this year I have several. It's amazing what they do, the holes in my fence posts are perfectly round, looks like they were professionally drilled.

SJ, that is so cool. I'm glad he was at your house, not mine, because I might have freaked. Very neat.

And don't get me started on lubber grasshoppers, aka "Georgia Thumpers." I could write a book. They will gnaw anything you have planted, especially young plants with tender shoots, right down to the roots.

One appropriate story...one of my brothers grew up to have a successful career in the USAF/NSA and has a second successful career in whatever it is he does (can't tell us or he would have to shoot us). As a young boy, he would sit cross-legged on the ground and talk to a snake. At the same time, he was absolutely terrified of the Georgia Thumpers, especially when they would hatch and totally cover tall weeds. He'd start crying "Overhoppers! Overhoppers!" and my mom would have to pick him up and carry him.

Thirty-something years later, the guys in the dark suits are interviewing all the family in preparation for my brother's security clearance, and my mother TELLS THE NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY that he is afraid of grasshoppers.

Thank you, Thank you, for my first full laugh of the day! I love this story.

Hope I,m not being seen as intrusive...but I have had carpenter bees and the black grasshoppers with racing stripes. The carpenter bees, I'm told, will go after any wood that is not sealed with paint or another coating. I have cedar on one deck roof and it is sealed with polyurethane but the bees ate on. A friend told me he took a piece of paper towel and stuffed it in the holes and the bees gave up. I live just east of Springville. I have seen the black grasshoppers here since my childhood. They are aggressive and consume my husband's garden every summer. I have no solutions. I live on a hillside near a lake and we don't use insectisides, so I have limited to the old foot stomp...attacking one by one. The grasshoppers now back away from me. the wild birds love the snack and my dogs are fascinated and try to figure out what rule the grasshopper broke. Good luck...

Hope I,m not being seen as intrusive...but I have had carpenter bees and the black grasshoppers with racing stripes. The carpenter bees, I'm told, will go after any wood that is not sealed with paint or another coating. I have cedar on one deck roof and it is sealed with polyurethane but the bees ate on. A friend told me he took a piece of paper towel and stuffed it in the holes and the bees gave up. I live just east of Springville. I have seen the black grasshoppers here since my childhood. They are aggressive and consume my husband's garden every summer. I have no solutions. I live on a hillside near a lake and we don't use insectisides, so I have limited to the old foot stomp...attacking one by one. The grasshoppers now back away from me. the wild birds love the snack and my dogs are fascinated and try to figure out what rule the grasshopper broke. Good luck...

We ended up stomping too!

That does sound cool. These wouldn't hop away, they'd hop towards you. I was so excited about living in Normaltown and then got a yard full of freakish bugs!!!!!:rofl: Oh yeah, and the drummer for Five-Eight living next door to us.

What ever happened to my favorite band from Athens? I loved to watch those guys play. The best show I ever saw was when the singer/guitar player played a solo acoustic show at the little blues bar, where Pat Hood often played.

We've killed a many here too. While I don't like killing harmless critters, they will wreak havoc on your garden. Can't use them for fish bait; nothing will bite them. Nothing will eat them. And when they grow up and get all the pretty colors, they will bite the stew out of you.

And...my very first birds and bees talk with my son was prompted by two lubbers making little lubbers on our porch. "Mom! Come here! This is neat!"

Nice pic. Did you get a Nikon?

No, that was taken with my little P & S. Still waiting on the release of the XSI on April 27, to drive prices down, before I buy a replacement. I am learning a great deal about patience in the mean time, as I really miss the DSLR. Getting close ups of scary things is difficult with a point and shoot, as I have to get within a foot away from the subject to get a good shot. Sometimes, I find myself focusing my attention so much on the getting the subject in the camera frame, that I am not noticing how close I am getting to the subject. :shock:

SJ, do you have any carpenter bees? I am fascinated with these bees. Last spring I had one nest and this year I have several. It's amazing what they do, the holes in my fence posts are perfectly round, looks like they were professionally drilled.

I occasionally get carpenter bees. When they are making holes in inappropriate places, I patch the holes with a piece of duct tape, and that seems to solve the problem.

Great thread...