lizards. bones. and a parting moon shot.

after last weekend's FREEZE,

some critters (especially the cold-blooded ones) are thinking really hard
before they step out of their warm & safe hidey-holes.

the days have been steadily warming to the low to mid 70's (F)...

and i have spotted a few lizards lingering...soaking up the warmth...

just in case we get hit with another sudden cold spell.

they are all i've seen.  well other than a few birds and a couple of butterflies...

but this post is for the lizards.

on the front porch hand rail

on fence by the back porch

Florida's Museum of Natural History's Herpetology Dep't lists SIXTY-THREE
species of lizard in Florida.
of that 63...only TWENTY are native to florida.

a juvenile anole on the north side of the house (broom leaning)

this guy must have just changed from green to brown...

note the green around his eyes.

front porch roof

these next few shots are of a lizard on the south side of the house...

stepping out of his skin!

shedding.

he's giving me the eye.

"damn woman! can't i undress in private?!"

now he's starting to get a bit annoyed.

he would prefer to shed in peace.

solitude.

"go away. will ya'"

he tries to scare me away by displaying his dewlap

(a brightly colored flap of skin under the neck).

ok.  i go.

about this next lizard...

does anyone know how to play taps?

the lizard lament.

discovered inside an old grill

oOo

that dead lizard is my cue to move on to BoNES.

owl pellet bones.

courtesy of the Barred Owl who frequents our yard.

taken  31 Jan 2011 at 4:30pm

remember

the owl pellets i found recently?

does that jog your memory?

here are the bones after i dissected them with an x-acto knife & tweezers.

and here they are after soaking...rinsing...straining.

then repeating.

the TINIEST bOnes. 

long leg bones, scapulae, rib bones, teeth...mostly from the little mole that lives underground.

so small...the bones are coughed up in an UNDER 1.5 inch pellet...mixed with fur!

~i love bones~

oOo

""Well," said Pooh, "what I like best -- " 

and then he had to stop and think. 

Because although Eating Honey was a very good thing to do, 

there was a moment just before you began to eat it 

which was better than when you were, 

but he didn't know what it was called." 

~Winnie the Pooh

oOo

moon shots from the morning of Feb 16th, 2012.

a little grainy...but still pretty cool i think...CRATERS!
(for inquiring minds: my camera is nothing fancy. a Canon Powershot SX120)

oOo

"Let nature take you on its journey."

~Jamake Highwater 

stay cool & be safe.
laura

NOTE ON WORD VERIFICATION
maybe you've noticed the DOUBLE words...
all scrambled...with shading and lines running through them.
yikes!
it makes commenting really difficult.
if you use them...maybe try doing without.
i haven't had word verification for over a year and only ONCE or twice
have i had to delete a 'spammy' comment.
with this new double word format, it's very frustrating.
annoying.
time consuming.
you might even notice less comments on your blog.

anyway...please consider it.  :)

blooms. feathers. carcass. bird. squirrel - - - and milo.

the Azaleas are budding.

they like the cold.   so do i.

this past week we've had a few hard freezes.

no snow here in north florida...but the water in the bird bath froze!!

here's a close up of the water...which i thought looked pretty cool...

with the leaves beneath and the reflection of the trees.

just before the freeze...i noticed the camelia was about to bloom.

luckily it did.  for one day. then it froze, turned brown and shriveled up!

oOo

remember the three little bananas growing in our yard??

this was the first year we had bananas on this plant!

well...they never had a chance to mature.

maybe this year they'll sprout bananas a little earlier.

this is what they look like now.

:(

i found TWO more (Barred) owl pellets, but haven't had the chance to dissect them yet!

THIS is the BIGGEST i have ever found!

2 ¼ inches long and 1 ½ inches wide!!

it's hard to imagine a pellet this size making it up & out of the owl without choking him!

i find myself wanting to gag just imagining that.

feathers on the ground...in piles...in one area...

hmmmm...i think someone...something... has been munching on a Red-shouldered Hawk.

AND that's NOT ALL that has been munched on.

fur spotted on the ground. clumps of it.  appeared to be Opossum fur.

i followed the trail. to the far back of the yard...just beyond the tree line into the woods.

sam spotted it first.

there, on the ground.  

a fairly clean carcass.  still much fur clinging.

definitely a 'possum.  poor little guy.

(you know i'm keeping the bones!)

look at the little skinny ribs in the picture below.

we're thinking maybe a bird. hawk or owl...ate him.

if it was a fox or coyote...or a dog...it would have been dragged off.

but a BIG bird (no, not the yellow one!) would have caught it & pulled it apart right there...

on the ground.

-

too much information?

-

ok...smile...here's a Pileated Woodpecker in the front yard.

and a squirrel...

trying to decide if she wants to get a drink while i'm standing there on the porch.

too close for comfort.

but thirst won.

oOo

a quick note...i mentioned last time about my son travis coming to stay with us.

well...we THOUGHT he had a job. travis thought so too.

he worked LAST saturday, sunday, monday, tuesday, wednesday...

then the boss had to go down to south florida to pick up some palm trees from his palm farm.

travis hasn't heard from him since...and he doesn't answer his cell.

we drove by his business here in town, but the gate has been shut & locked ever since last week!

???

hmmmmm.  so travis is waiting (im)patiently to get paid for his time.

then it might be back to employment app's if this doesn't work out.  

will keep you updated.

oOo

SO,

i leave you with a milo snooze.

ummmmm...is she dreaming of gymnastics? the cat olympics?

it looks like she's getting ready to do a head stand.

In ancient times cats were worshipped as gods; they have not forgotten this. 

~Terry Pratchett

stay cool & have a safe journey.

laura

the mole is dead. bones. scattered scat. and more!

yesterday (sunday),

the sky at 11:20 am...

oOo

if you're not new here...and you've wandered the woods with me before...

then you know i collect bones, feathers,  insect wings, rocks & stones.

you also know that months ago we found a dead Opossum and i buried him out back...

with plans to dig up the bones.

and i did. 

but i was surprised to find that the skeleton was not in one piece.

the bones are scattered.  

little by little i've unearthed some bones...

my latest find is one scapula...

views of the Opossum's left scapula

i've learned from a 'bone expert' that it's not unusual for the bones to be scattered. 

the shifting ground & insects tend to move them around.

raccoon prints all over the area i've been digging

hmmmmm...it never occurred to me. i just assumed...bury the carcass...

and when i dig it up...VOILA! a opossum, minus the tissue, muscle, skin of course.

small red Azalea bush in bloom!

this expert told me i have a better chance of keeping the bones together 

if i bury the animal in a cardboard box with the top open.

so that's what i did with the little Mole i found.

while wandering....the trails out back...

i spotted snake skin...shedding.

then...i saw something fuzzy on the ground...not a foot away.

upon closer examination...i saw it was a little Mole!

dead. no bite marks. no obvious or visible cause of death.

it's unusual to see one. they live underground, making burrows & tunnels.

they're small...only about 4-6 inches in length.

they have no external eyes or ears.

underside of dead mole. mouth & nose to the left

LOOK AT THOSE CLAWS!!

perfect for digging

(read more about this Eastern Mole here!)

so, needless to say, i buried him in an open top cardboard box...

and marked my calender on December 18th,

UNearth the MOLE!

what would a walk in the forest be without fungi!

a mushroom colony!

and SCAT!

i always notice it.  and if i happen to miss a pile...sam will bring it to my attention. ha!

just yesterday, while he was outside working on his truck...he made a special trip

into the house to tell me he saw a pile of shit poop. droppings. feces. scat.

aaaaaaah. now THAT's love.  :)

first i  snap a picture, then i look it up in one of my handy scat books...

i wonder if this was left as gift to milo? (her new friend, introduced in previous post.)

raccoon scat. blunt ends. brown to black. large seeds present.

either Fox or Coyote. tapered ends. fur & seeds present.

i tend to think Fox, only because we see the foxes more often.

flies feasting on (LOOSE!) scat of unknown origin.

UGH!

Pileated Woodpecker

i also came across ANOTHER Owl Pellet. left by our frequent night time visitor, the Barred Owl.

this pellet is the BIGGEST one i've seen yet!

bones. fur. claws. teeth. the undigested parts.

and finally...back out of the woods...

lizard on the house

i did my first  page in my "Art Journal"...over two days. nov 16th & 17th.

at the time i was feeling a little down, as it was nearing my brother's birthday (19 nov).

he passed away 3 years ago.

watercolor. real leaves.some glitter.

(i'm aiming for once a month with my art journal entries.)

Every artist dips his brush in his own soul, and paints his own nature into his pictures.  

~Henry Ward Beecher 

i leave you now, with a picture of the morning moon on the 19th of november.

19 november 2011    at  6:55am

have a good week. and if you celebrate, a happy thanksgiving!

gobble-gobble

be safe & stay cool.

laura