summer_jackel: (Default)
[personal profile] summer_jackel
One vulture floats above;
it is spring, the earth is black and moist
snakes and snails, salamanders, slugs and scorpions
rest under almost every bit of fallen wood
and all the small things seethe with joy and life.


***

Woo, if any day deserved a poem, it was yesterday; they probably chose April as NaPo month for a reason. Kyn and I walked to Badger Hill (so the greater majority of a day) and turned up all sorts of wood and rocks (carefully) looking for wildlife, which we found in great abundance. We found no less than three scorpions, only one of whom was the same individual I found a couple of days ago, as well as a different rubber boa, the same baby gopher snake, and all kinds of salamanders, centipedes, millipedes, wood ants, etc. It was grand.

Photobucket



Fat little wood scorpion!

Photobucket

Photobucket

Kyn coaxed the scorpion onto her hand; it did not pinch or sting her. These little guys are quite harmless and hardly seem to deserve a name as flashy as Uroctonus mordax.
Photobucket

Photobucket

Baby rubber boa! This little guy was so very sweet and new, and looked like he'd just shed. All of the wildlife up there seemed so healthy.
Photobucket

Photobucket

I am pretty certain that this little fellow is a juvie gopher snake, although I would be interested in alternate opinions if anyone has them.
Photobucket

awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww...
Photobucket

A CA slender salamander:
Photobucket

Another two:
Photobucket

baby ensatina and slug:
Photobucket

EDIT: Thank you Kyn for IDing these guys as Harpaphe haydeniana based on bugguide here: http://bugguide.net/node/view/102339/bgpage The flash ruined this pic (but the camera refused to take one without); these guys are very stunning, shiny black with bright yellow spots. My guess is that if I was a bird, I wouldn't want to eat these. (ok, so I don't want to...or even touch it...anyway. Cool beastie, though).
Photobucket

While we look at wildlife, dogs practice stays. This was a long enough walk (and might have been longer) so we left all of our senior canines at home. Dog age is certainly a bit sad, but it's a necessary part of keeping dogs, and I am comforted by the fact that they all got walks of more comfortable length today.
Photobucket

Photobucket

When not on a stay, they (especially Rooster) find mud to play in whenever they can. Alas, they were clean before the walk. Not now.
Photobucket

Photobucket

Rough collies are so pretty (mud notwithstanding).
Photobucket

Photobucket

Handsome mudpuppy
Photobucket

sits forever and ever.
Photobucket

When they aren't zooming.
Photobucket

Photobucket

Photobucket

Photobucket

Coba being soft, furry and glamorous.
Photobucket

Photobucket
This account has disabled anonymous posting.
If you don't have an account you can create one now.
HTML doesn't work in the subject.
More info about formatting

Profile

summer_jackel: (Default)
summer_jackel

July 2017

S M T W T F S
       1
2345678
9101112131415
16171819202122
23242526272829
3031     

Most Popular Tags

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
Page generated Jun. 13th, 2025 06:20 am
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios