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/ 

My Bubbles!

Nature Display: A Picture A Day

Blog Post #11

Sea Turtle - Aquarium: Denver, CO

The Scoop:

This turtle is so cute!  She swam all over her tank at the aquarium which was giant and shared with all sorts of other sea creatures.  The guide there told us she LOVES bubbles and also that she can stay underwater for several hours before surfacing again.  These turtles are huge!  When I went to Playa del Carmen, Mexico we got to take a snorkeling trip over in Cozumel and actually spotted turtles to swim with.  It was amazing, one of the best experiences I have ever had.  I hope to have a chance to go back in the near future.  For now though, I get to see tons of freshwater turtles right here in Austin!  My dad is General Manager for the County Line on the Lake where you can feed the turtles in Bull Creek off Lake Austin out back from their decks - it's really fun :)

Here's a pic of our local turtle buddies:

http://www.facebook.com/CountyLineLake?ref=ts&v=wall#!/photo.php?pid=6026385&id=388617942931&ref=fbx_album

All Clear!

Nature Display: A Picture A Day

Blog Post #10

Spotted Orb-weaver Spider - House window: Leander, TX

The Scoop:

Wooohooo!!  I got all freaked out for nothing!  Meet our new bug catcher, the spotted orb-weaver spider.  Not dangerously venomous but looks an awful like a Hobo Spider which is very venomous, turns out those spiders are not found in TX.  This is still a rather intimidating looking spider, he she caught my eye from off the side of our walk and he she had very little patience for my flash camera.  This particular picture was taken from inside our house, looking out through the window he she spun his web on outside.  We tend to have a love/hate relationship with spiders.  Creepy crawly?  Yes.  Predator of other creepy crawlies? YES!  I guess the latter wins it because we definitely want him her to stick around for that reason.  If you look close at the picture you can see the web silk coming from his her abdomen as he she was still in the process of spinning.  Very interesting fella!

Look here to see a few more pictures I took of him on the Spider Identification Forum; it's a great resource and it's how I got a definitive answer on which spider I found:

http://www.spideridentification.org/forums/showthread.php?p=8059&posted=1#post8059

**Updated 9/13/10: Turns out our spidey friend is actually a girl spider!  My apologies!!

Gotcha! ..Maybe not?

Nature Display: A Picture A Day

Blog Post #9

House Gecko - Garage wall: Leander, TX

The Scoop:

Well I was going to post a picture of a spider that I took this evening, but I was first taking the time to identify it.  I browsed images of spiders on the web and it just might be an extremely venomous spider and the whole search has completely freaked me out..so I have submitted those pictures to a spider identification forum.  I reeeeeeally hope it's just a look-a-like to the poisonous species.

Another gecko!!!  I love these guys :)  This is exactly the kind of commonly found gecko we used to capture as kids and keep in a terrarium.  You have to be quick because these lil' buggers are FAST and if you try to grip it by the tail it falls right off!  Yup, in case you didn't know - a gecko can lose it's tail as a defensive mechanism and then a new tail will eventually grow back in its place!  The tail that falls off will still wriggle around for a bit too and make the predator think it still has a hold of the gecko.  Meanwhile, he's run out of harms way.  This guy is a house gecko and he is nocturnal and preys on insects and spiders.

Here's another cool house gecko picture I came across:

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:House_gecko_with_spider.JPG

So Shiny!

Nature Display: A Picture A Day

Blog Post #8

Sun through the Trees - Community Park: Austin, TX

The Scoop:

Fancy a picnic?  The sun was out today, that's for sure.  Though I must confess this picture was not taken today.  This one was taken last year on my mom's birthday!  I picked her up from work on her lunch break and we went to a nearby park, rolled down the windows and had a nice lunch and chat.  We would have sat outside at the tables but the wind was blowing too hard for our plates to stay in place.  It was a gorgeous day and I just had to sneak a pic of the sun shining down through the park trees.  Summer's almost over now though, so my suggestion to all is to get one last sunny picnic in for the season!  Have fun :)

No picnic is complete without the perfect basket; you know you want this one...

http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=4323157&CAWELAID=579409208

Do You See What I See?

Nature Display: A Picture A Day

Blog Post #7

Clouds - On the Road: Northern New Mexico

The Scoop:

The clouds in this picture immediately make me think of something; what do you see in these clouds?  I see...a howling wolf.  I took this photo on our drive to Denver this summer.  This is in New Mexico just before reaching the border to Colorado.  When I was in middle school I used to hang out at my friends house and we would lie on her trampoline and stare at the clouds and point out all shapes they formed.  It's always fun to see what the kind of clouds are out during different types of weather.  My favorite clouds are the giant cumulonimbus clouds that build up before a rain storm.

Love clouds too?  Check out this site of cloud-inspired poetry:

http://cloudappreciationsociety.org/category/cloud-poetry/

Popeye the Sailor Fish?

Nature Display: A Picture A Day

Blog Post #6

Popeye Catalufa - Downtown Aquarium: Denver, CO

The Scoop:

This picture was quite the surprise when I took it.  Notice the eyes..?  Looks nothing like that until the camera flash hits it, hehe.  These are Popeye Catalufa fish and they are found in the Eastern Pacific from California to Peru and around the Galapagos Islands (which is also home to the only marine iguana ^_^).  Of course, this picture I took at an aquarium...  These fish are nocturnal and live in caves as deep as 300 feet, those specialized crrrrazy eyes allow them to see well in the low light.  Quite a nice adaptation!  These guys grow up to 13 inches in length and feed on small fish and crustaceans. 

Get your Popeye "Why I Oughta..." tee here:

http://www.popeyestore.com/potwhyioum.html

It's Poooooouring!!

Nature Display: A Picture A Day

Blog Post #5

Waterfall - Cow Creek: Texas

The Scoop:

It has been raining nonstop all day here!  We definitely need the rain but it certainly made for some dangerous driving conditions today.  To change it up, here's a pic to honor the benefits of a great downpour... This is a local swim spot we like to visit occasionally.  Though there's not a whole lot of swimming to be done here, it's nice nonetheless.  Here is one of the waterfalls at Cow Creek following some heavy rain.  The first time we ventured to Cow Creek was on an Easter weekend and it's been a favorite place to chill since.  On this visit it started to sprinkle again so we just sat in the water under the rock ledge and watched the rain, it was like watching from inside a cave, even the sound was changed.  While we sat there we also noticed a bird's nest on the wall with little baby birds in it - too cute!

The road running through Cow Creek is a popular spot for motorcyclists, here's the map:

http://www.motorcycleroads.us/roads/tx_ccr.html

Gecko!!

Nature Display: A Picture A Day

Blog Post #4

Day Gecko - Fort Worth Zoo: Ft. Worth, TX

The Scoop:

It's a GECKO!  Pretty much my entire immediate family has a deeply rooted love for all things reptile and an even greater affinity for geckos in particular.  I took this picture at the Ft. Worth Zoo maybe two years ago.  This awesome lil' fella is a Day Gecko clinging to the glass of his enclosure at the zoo.  I read online that there are over 65 species of Day Geckos; most of which are found in Madagascar.  This guy is all green on top with blue and brown/rusty red markings, stunning.

Check out this blog about a pet Day Gecko named Pokie (great pics):

http://daygeckos.blogspot.com/

Flit!

Nature Display: A Picture A Day

Blog Post #3

Female Ruby-Throated Hummingbird - Front Porch: Leander, TX

The Scoop:

Here's a shot of a hummingbird on one of our feeders.  I took this shot a couple weeks ago, we had three hummers coming back and forth to the porch to feed.  I pretty much stood outside a couple feet from the feeder for a good 45 minutes and snapped pics.  It's crazy just how loud these little guys are when they fly by; sounded like an angry hornet was coming for me each time.  If I have done my identification correctly, this picture is of an adult female Ruby-throated Hummingbird.  Of the three I saw, two are female and one is male.  The male hummer has some gorgeous colors but proved to be much more elusive to the camera.  I have always loved hummers; my first tattoo is of a hummingbird & flower and of course the entire background theme of this blog is hummingbirds.  It was very exciting to see them all chasing after each other and zooming around the front yard and they've been back several times since.

Here's a site with some more info on this species of hummer:

http://www.hummingbirds.net/rubythroated.html

Welcome Home?

Nature Display: A Picture A Day

Blog Post #2

Tarantula - Outside House: Leander, TX

The Scoop:

Well it's a good thing my mom makes a habit of turning on our outside lights before opening the side door to our house. After grocery shopping this evening, Mr. Tarantula here was waiting for us...right on the welcome mat! It's been a while since we've seen any tarantulas about; I told my mom I think they're onto me, creatures everywhere know I've started this blog. In high school one of my science teachers had a class tarantula, I got to hold him once. It was cool, creepy and fun all in one but I'd never dare to pick up one found around the house. It took me all of 30 seconds to wind up agitating this guy while trying to take his picture. The dark legs are interesting on him and I'm hoping he sticks around to take out some of the bugs around the outside of the house.  It looks like he's waving at the camera :)  Cheers, Mr. Tarantula!

If ya wanna know more, here's a National Geographic web page on tarantulas:

http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/bugs/tarantula/

You've Gotta Start Somewhere...

Hello to ALL!

My name is Courtney and I've been wanting to start a blog for quite some time but hadn't found the right subject, one that I felt would keep me interested in maintaining it...until now. It only makes sense that nature photography should be the deciding material as I am constantly stopping to capture the world around me in a quick photo. What can I say, I get it from my parents! So here we are, a blog at last and the first post is now underway. (I'm not even going to mention just how long it took me to settle on a template design - sometimes unrestricted customization is a hindrance for me.)

The idea behind my blog is simple - a place for me to share one nature photo a day and leave a little tidbit about how the picture came to be and if time allows a quick blurb on the subject matter as a whole. Please enjoy and feel free to leave your comments! 

Thanks,

Courtney

Nature Display: A Picture A Day

Blog Post #1

Praying Mantis - Outside Garage: Leander, TX

The Scoop: 

Upon arriving at home today after work I immediately noticed this big guy on the brick ledge outside our garage.  I've seen my share of mantises out here in the Hill Country and this one was noticeably larger than the rest of the gang.  The poor bugger was just sitting here relaxing when I showed up and busted out the camera.  When you consider how quick a mantis moves to attack it's almost more amazing to see just how still one can be.  I must have held my phone and later a camera taking flash images two inches from his entire being and only witnessed a slight turning of the head.  I like the shade of this mantis, not the typical bright green we usually see around the property (also very pretty), and his eyes are really remarkable.  Later in the evening when I had to head out to my car again I found him barely moved, maybe five inches from his previous perch.  However, I did notice he had acquired some form of battle wound to one leg; he was nowhere to be found when I arrived at home for the night.

If you want to see more information or pictures on praying mantises, check out:

http://mantodea.myspecies.info/