Yard Critter of the Week - Wheel Bug

One of the assassins of the insect world, the Wheel Bug.

I was doing a spot of yard work when I noticed this critter over the front door of our house.

On November 19th. Not a day one expects to see many insects about. Or be doing yard work for that matter.

I mean, global warming is a Chinese hoax right?

Anyways, I got a camera. And a ladder.

The Wheel Bug is one of the largest true bugs and the largest assassin bug. Like other assassin bugs it's a voracious predator. Attacking its prey by grasping it with its front legs, and stabbing with its mouth parts. Once having penetrated the skin it injects its saliva, paralyzing the prey and liquifying its internal organs. Which the Wheel Bug then consumes bug sucking them out.

As they are not that picky about what they attack they are not a bug to handle casually. And while I'm happy to say I've not been the target, those that have report a rather unpleasant experience. You've been warned.

You can find all of the Yard Critter posts listed here.

Here Comes ...

... Santa Claus!

Here comes Santa Claus!

Right down Burrs Mill Road!

🎅🏻🎄🎅🏻🌲🎅🏻🌲🎅🏻🌲🎅🏻

The blue dot marks our Piney Place. 

We don't exactly live in a neighborhood. More trees than houses. 

Or children.

And when I heard sirens that last thing I thought was Santa Claus. 

And yet there he was. Big as life. Riding on a fire truck.

I guess the reindeer are resting up for the big night.

Click the link to see!

The View ...

... out my office (aka home) window this morning.

Good thing I'm not a sailor.

Well That Didn't Take Long

Not long after publishing this post I was sitting on the couch in our living room watching a surprisingly good football game.

I think this Sunday was the first that the games were actually interesting. But I digress ...

I spotted the Pine Vole, in the same spot. Doing the same thing.

I think Patty dislikes this critter even more than she dislikes deer.

Yard Critter of the Week - Pine Vole

We were sitting in the living room when I noticed movement in the yard. It was twilight and most birds had gone to roost. So we watched and waited. It would dart out and back. I thought it was a mouse. But Patty nailed it.

"A vole," she said.

And so it was.

A Pine Vole, aka Woodland Vole.

It would run out from behind the stump, grab some bird seed, and quickly scamper back. A high ISO and lots of frames later, I had a couple of 'blog worthy' shots.

Perhaps not such a welcome critter in the garden as, in addition to bird seed, they like to dine on the roots of plants. Which, as you might imagine, is not good for the plants.

And makes for unhappy gardeners.

As part of our continuing war on lawn, we've put some cardboard down around some native plants in our front yard (the cardboard blocks sunlight, and thus prevents other plants from competing with those we've just planted). And under the cardboard we found vole tunnels, as seem in the image above. Unlike those made by moles, vole tunnels are small and close to the surface.

🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾

We tend to watch a television show after dinner most nights (a sports talk show, Highly Questionable, on ESPN). And as we watched the vole was a regular visitor, always at exactly the same place and time, for about a week. And then it was gone. As this spot is in our bird feeder area, the food supply has not diminished. And as voles do not hibernate that's not the reason. A predator perhaps? We'll probably never know.

But we'll keep watching.

You can find all of the Yard Critter posts listed here.

Feeder Bird

Northern Flicker. Yellow-shafted variety, which is the usual variety here east of the Rocky Mountains.

Yard Critter of the Week - White-footed Deermouse

Peromycus leucopus, which Harold Boyd, in his "A Field Guide to the Pine Barrens of New Jersey", calls the White-footed Mouse.

It is also known as the White-footed Deermouse, deer mice being of the genus Peromycus.

🐭🐭🐭🐭🐭

I've mentioned before that our cat Max likes to send time outside.

Max

But having cats outdoors is not good for the local wildlife, with cats being predators after all.

Max spends quite a bit of his time looking out the windows at the yard critters. Note the red stripe on Max's back. That's part of a harness which hook up to a leash when we let him outside. Tied to one of the railing posts on our deck.

As a pet, Max is well fed. And has never needed to learn to hunt for himself. So while he is fascinated by the wildlife in the yard, on those occasions that he has come face to face with another critter he is rather shy.

And when Patty went out to collect him one recent evening, she came running back into the house, announcing, "Max has a mouse!". She grabbed a flashlight and I grabbed a camera.

Max quickly lost interest in the mouse, which seemed confused by all the activity and the bright light.  Patty, who owns apartments in Philadelphia and lived there for many years, is no fan of mice. Me, while I certainly don't want them in my house nor my garage, realize that they are residents of our property. And this isn't the first we've seen.

But Patty doesn't want them around. So as Max was not earning his keep as a mouser, and had gotten away in the confusion (he wandered back into the house on his own when is started raining a little while later), I reached down and grabbed the rodent by its tail. It didn't seem all that perturbed at this.

And while I stood there holding it, Patty got one of our small aquaria. And we now have a "pet" mouse.

🐁🐁🐁🐁🐁

I think tomorrow I'll take it somewhere far away and let it go.

You can find all of the Yard Critter posts listed here.

Not Looking Happy

Not happy at all.

The Bluebird of unhappiness?

🐦🐦🐦🐦🐦

I wasn't happy either.

I spotted a small flock of Eastern Bluebirds in our crab apple tree. So I grabbed the camera and started shooting. And got, I thought some nice shots of multiple birds together.

Just one problem. There was no memory card in the camera. I got no good shots.

Very unhappy.

Fortunately they came back. And I got a couple of shots, albeit of a single bird. But better than no shots.

Rime

I have tried on multiple occasions to take pictures of snow crystals. With varying degrees of success. I have three main impediments.

First, I live in an area that doesn't get much snow.

Second, I don't have a dedicated snow photography system.

Three, I work. So even when it is snowing, I may not be able to take advantage.

And then, when I do get a chance, the flakes are all rimey!

The rime is what makes these snow crystals all "bumpy". When falling, the snow falls through a zone of super cooled water droplets. And those droplets freeze onto the snow crystals.

❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️

To see what someone who really knows what they are doing can achieve check out Ken Libbrecht's Snow Crystals site. Enjoy!

Your Nearest Exit May Be Behind You

The other day, while working form home, I spotted this Wild Turkey on the back garden fence.

"Break Time!", I said to no one in particular (which was good as there was no one else there). And I grabbed the camera and headed outside.

And after taking a few shots of the bird above as it hid behind the Joe-Pye Weed, I noticed it wasn't alone.

There were a dozen or so of them in the garden, including the two in the image above (the second back along the fence). As they were hiding in the plants it was not easy getting shots. And eventually my moving around on the deck spooked them. And they all left.

🦃🦃🦃🦃🦃🦃🦃🦃🦃🦃

Or so I thought.

Back in my office I kept hearing a turkey calling.

This turkey.

It had become trapped in the wide open garden. The rest of the flock was on the other side of the fence. And it could not find a way through. So it kept walking back and forth along the inside of the fence.

As I slowly walked up towards it, it eventually became agitated at my presence, and tried even harder to find a way out. In hindsight I probably should have walked around and came toward it from the other side of he fence. Because as I came toward it, it wanted to move away from me. But of course it could not, because: fence.

Once I saw it have become distressed I quickly walked toward it. And as you can see from this linked video, it eventually realized that there was no fence in the other direction.

And it was free.

(But I had to get back to work.)

Yard Critter of the Week - House Fly

The common House Fly, Musca domestica.

Usually quite difficult to catch, or crush, this one was slowed by the cold temperatures of late. And after a few minutes in our refrigerator was ready for its modeling gig.

But even then, it quickly shook off the cold and started moving about. Making for blurry photos. And since it was not cooperating I had to show it to the door.

The House Fly is very likely the insect with the widest distribution on Earth, living on every continent except Antarctica. They have even been found in the Arctic. Originally thought to have evolved in Asia, they are now native to pretty much everywhere humans are.

Including my house.

🦟  🦟  🦟  🦟  🦟

You can find all of the Yard Critter posts listed here.