Hoppity Hop Hop

Nature Display: A Picture A Day

Blog Post #18

Cave/Camel Cricket - Front Porch: Leander, TX

The Scoop:

While identifying yesterday's blog topic I stumbled upon the identification of this cricket I had also taken a pic of a few days back!  I believe this one is female which is "recognizable because of the sword-like egg laying structure in addition to the two appendages at the end of the abdomen."  And for a little description, "Cave and camel crickets are dark brown, wingless and have long antennae, long well-developed hind legs for jumping. The head is bent down and the back is arched up, giving these insects a humped-backed (camel) appearance." [ Field Guide to Texas Insects, Drees, B.M. and John Jackman]  I thought she looked very unique from the field crickets we usually find out here.  When trying to find today's link I thought I'd enter in the Google vs Bing vs Yahoo war:  Google - Crickets are good luck, Bing - Crickets are good luck (a match!), Yahoo - Crickets are singing lyrics (D'oh!).  I'm gonna give it to Google and Bing; in Yahoo's defense, 'good luck' was the their third option ^_~.

Who carries a cricket for good luck?:

http://picture-book.com/content/mulan 

Jiminy Cricket!!

Nature Display: A Picture A Day

Blog Post #17

Greater Arid-land Katydid - Side door: Leander, TX

The Scoop:

This guy scared the *$#%! out of me today.  My mom and I were headed out the side door of our house to run an errand; she walked out before me and then I start to notice something in my peripheral vision...something on the door, something large and out of place.  Then I realized it's a GIANT creature and I frrrrreaked out!  I was yelp-screaming and shut the door behind my mom while I stayed in the house.  She told me later she was thinking - oh gosh it's gotta be something bad.  Finally got calmed down enough to realize it was this larger than life grasshopper - the thing is GIANT.  In another pic my mom held her hand up to him and he was like half the size.  We shot this pic, ran our errand and came back home to find him still sitting there "guarding the door."  Here's some fun facts I read up on this species. 

Common name: Red-eyed Devil...check! 

Identification: Large and spiny, distinctive...check!

Habitat: Oak-juniper woodlands, desert with mesquite or other brush...check!

Range: Parts of central and west Texas, southern New Mexico, southeastern Arizona...check!

Season: June-October...check!

Food: Voraciously omnivorous...not gonna test that...

Remarks: When approached, said to sometimes threaten and attack, may bite and draw blood...YIKES!!

Out on our errand we had continued to recall my freak-out moment and my mom compared it to this guy's reaction to a similar situation in this one viral video from waaaay back...and by golly she was right 'cept I continued to scream instead of falling.

See the video here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRJBgIO--rE 

Its-a Leeeezard! ^_~

Nature Display: A Picture A Day

Blog Post #16



Chinese Water Dragon - Superior Home Systems: Cedar Park, TX

The Scoop:

The lizard of a million names!  This is my bro's Chinese Water Dragon, Fabio/Godzilla/Iggy Pop...I could go on.  So, he's had some trouble settling on a name...But no matter!  He has rocked out his terrarium with a water feature, fog/mist machine, day/night light settings, heat rocks, etc. and of course it's ALL automated and can be controlled remotely, not to mention he's got a camera positioned on there too that we can log-in and view from anywhere!!  Now, that's how it's done ;)  This lizard is sooo cool, he is crazy quick at catching crickets and loves to climb all around the vines/tree limb features in his new environment.

Get YOUR home automated:

http://superiorhomesystems.net/ 

Rock LOBSTAAAH!!

Nature Display: A Picture A Day

Blog Post #15

Spiny Lobster - Downtown Aquarium: Denver, Co

The Scoop:

The spiny lobster!  A very cool specimen indeed!  This is another shot from our trip to the aquarium in Denver.  I haven't got much time to devote to the blog tonight so I'll leave ya with an educational link...

Read up on the Spiny Lobster:

http://research.myfwc.com/features/view_article.asp?id=4128 

Bambi

Nature Display: A Picture A Day

Blog Post #14

Fawn - Front Yard: Leander, TX

The Scoop:

Aw, a baby deer!!  We get lots of deer at our house, especially since my dad calls out to them and rings a dinner bell before throwing out deer corn to feed them daily.  Every so often though they start showing up with their "little fawnlings," two at a time.  Here's a photo of one such fawn out in our front yard hiding in the trees.  They are so cute and awkward at first as they get used to walking on those skinny legs.  Over time they begin to lose their white spots until they become indistinguishable among the adult deer.

My favorite famous fawn:

http://www.sanrio.com/characters/DeeryLou/?chr=DeeryLou 

The Sun's a Settin'

Nature Display: A Picture A Day

Blog Post #13

Sunset at the Lake: Ft. Worth, TX

The Scoop:

This is the final moments of sunset at a lake in Ft. Worth, sorry I don't remember what the name is.  This is in late winter/early spring a couple years ago.  I love the combination of the lake, shoreline and the sunset all visible in this photo.  Gotta cut this one short, but I did find time to include a link below. :)

Don't miss another sunrise or sunset:

http://www.sunrisesunset.com/ 

Mr. Ed

Nature Display: A Picture A Day

Blog Post #12

Horse - Neighbor's Yard: Leander, TX

The Scoop:

Hello everyone!  My dad spotted this guy hangin' out in our neighbor's yard today!  A few months back I was driving home from somewhere, probably work, and travelin' down our street when suddenly there's this horse walking across the road!  I guess he belongs to one of our neighbors and now we see him occasionally eating grass out in their front yard.  Today, he was actually in a different neighbors yard - hope they don't mind...  A few times they've had two horses out and about.  Personally, I love getting to drive by a beautiful grazing horse on the way home :)

I used to love watching this movie as a kid:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103262/