Another 5AM outing

[manumuskin]

I'd say racer by the smooth scales and head scalation also no postocuar stripe.without a belly shot I may be wrong but i say black racer.
the fact it is in a tree could say rat but racers will climb into low branches as well.

 

[Teegate]

I spent Friday evening exploring with Turtle but I had a slight problem with my camera. I again placed it in my bag with a frozen bottle of water and the lens misted over. This caused most of my photo's to be quite poor so I don't have any to share with you. Turtle may provide a few at some point. Yesterday, Jessica and I spent the morning exploring the area along the Mullica near and at Locks Bridge. And again this morning I was out of the house at 5AM and spend a few hours following the channels in the Great Swamp off of 206. So all of the below photo's are from early this morning.

A few views of the area.

I found multiple locations where praying mantis had just molted and were drying out. You can see the shell and the mantis in this photo.

As we have discussed before these channels are ore beds and this one is no exception.

These are a little early.

This one is not.

I then discovered two luna moths mating. I felt like a voyeur. And I seriously believe I was there at the exact moment if you know what I mean. It seemed obvious if that is possible.

I mentioned before it looks like corn.

Various

Getting stuck and tearing down the trees to get out. (Not me)

Guy

 

[manumuskin]

The round flower clusters were Buttonbush yes? What is the thing that looks loike corn? Looks like a head of wheat to me?and the white flower below it? I love Luna moths but have never seen Luna porn till now. You know if I didn't know better it looks as if there is room to ride around that mud hole on the right? I have never understood why someone would choose to go through a hole like that when there is an obvious way around it.Even with four wheel drive I would still go around it just to save wear and tear on the gears,hubs,brakes,mud in the gear oil etc.

 

[woodjin]

Great shots, Guy!! the great swamp is like another world. I have this luna moth that keeps flying into my garage at night. Like Al, I've never seen Luna porn though. I also go with Black Rat snake. I caught one in my yard yesterday. Racers never seem to hang around.

Jeff

 

[manumuskin]

racers and rats both have the white chin visible but have different bellies which isn't visible.racers have solid grey bellies and rats have mottled cream and grey splotched bellies.Racers have smooth dull black scales while rats have keeled shinier black scales.These scales look dull and smooth to me but a photo is not like having the snake in hand.If it was climbing and deep in the woods that is more rat habitat and behavior.One very good test is to grab the snake,if it doesn't bite at all or only bites once it is a rat,if it bites you at least three times before you can drop it or bites once and chews it's teeth into you like a pit bull it is a racer.If it is over five feet long it is no doubt a rat.If it has white showing between it's scales it is a rat,the white really shows after a good meal. I also think the head scalation looks more like a racer but would need a straight down shot to tell better.

 

[Teegate]

I was driving down Oswego Road almost to Oswego Lake on Friday late afternoon, and a racer crossed the road in front of me. I noticed that it was in a hurry as I was was closing in, but it could not travels as fast on the road as when it left the road. There was a noticable speed difference. Has anyone else noticed this?

 

[manumuskin]

racers use their belly scales to grip the road and the muscles attached to them to pull them along.I would say there are less friction favorable surfaces on a smooth asphalt surface for the scales to grip whereas once they hit the woods there is an innumerable bunch of surfaces for them to grip and pull against not only with their belly but also to hook with their body for leverage.If you put a snake on a piece of horizontal glass it almost vannot move at all and must try to throw itself acorss the glass like a Sidweinder.

 

[bobpbx]

Nice photos Guy. Luna's mating is probably a very rare sight. Those white flowers are likely from the Genus Sagittaria.

That one you say looks like corn very much intrigues me. It is not familiar. Were there others besides that one? Does the inflorescence belong to the grass leaf in front of it? I'm going to guess that you have an abberation there.

 

[Teegate]

That one you say looks like corn very much intrigues me. It is not familiar. Were there others besides that one? Does the inflorescence belong to the grass leaf in front of it? I'm going to guess that you have an abberation there.

There were others. And it comes out of the stalk it appears to be coming out of. I guess that is what you wanted to know.

Guy

 

[turtle]

Not at 5 a.m............ more like 5 p.m.! Here are some photos from the trip that Guy and I shared in Bear Swamp. Guy, I was told that we could have "easily" walked through to the last pond where we eventually ended! Thank you for sharing your evening with me. I look forward to doing it again. We managed to dodge the thunderstorms and hear some tree frogs too. Interesting plant life along the way. (mental note to add a macro lens to Santa list)

 

[Teegate]

Turtle,

I am also looking forward to our next outing. Jessica should make the next one. Photo number 7 really shows the amount of deer that were actually in that bog. I spent so much time trying to get the mist off my lens I never really was able to concentrate on looking at them.

So I am guessing we were at the location or general area we wanted to be at?

I will get back to you soon and let you know if the date I mentioned may be good for me.

Guy

 

[manumuskin]

That second pic looks like the plant I fought so hard to identify I can't remember what it was now.I know a sedge....OJI help!

 

[manumuskin]

What is the purtiful pink flower?

 

[Teegate]

What is the purtiful pink flower?

That is St. Johns Wort. That is Wort with an "o" and not an "a" as I have been posting.

 

[manumuskin]

Thanks Guy.looks much purtier then yer average wort!

 

[ecampbell]

Guy, thats a nice picture of a white flower. I set my camera on spot metering for exposure control and I still can't get a good picture.
I keep my camera in a case and when I first tried to photograph that snake last weekend the lense fogged up, frustrating.

 

[turtle]

I know a sedge....

Al, it's rhynchospora inundata (narrow-fruit beaksedge). Locally abundant (more so in the southeast US). Populations appear sporadically in sensitive wetland areas. Very beautiful. The purtiful pink flower is marsh St. Johnswort (one of my favorites).

Ed, I'd be grateful if you'd let me know how you conquer the task of photographing white flowers. I continually get washed-out images and then have to tweak them on my computer photo program. Most times I am not satisfied with the results.

I brought home two cyperus specimens last night that I plan to identify this evening. I'm working on the Oji theory also.

Terry

 

[manumuskin]

Thanks Terry! I could not remember the latin but I will remember the english. and the pink flower is a purty wort indeed!

 

[manumuskin]

I would say the shroom is death cap from the Amanita genus. ???

 

[Teegate]

Ed,

White flowers are really hard to photograph. Most of mine will never see the internet. However, I have been getting better at it by using the manuel mode. Read your manual and play around with anything small in your house to become familiar with how to change these settings. And both of my above white flowers were very early morning sun which may make it easier. In full sun I am always frustrated.