In just over a month Myakka River has gone from 0.07″ to more than 6′! And that doesn’t even include the rain from T.S. Debby that is just beginning to affect the River.
Dead Hummingbirds
Did you know there are between 200-400 billion birds in the world at any given moment? Even at the low side (200 billion) that’s a lot of birds. Yet we know so little about them. I recall a comic once who built a routine around the fact that you never see baby pigeons. He had a point. You also rarely see dead birds. There are the road kill bodies, usually sea gulls who were too greedy and too stupid to get out of the way. But with all the birds around it seems as if you would, on a fairly regular basis, see dead birds in your yard, in parks, at the seashore … you know, places where birds hang out. But you don’t.
So, it was with complete and utter amazement that I found a dead hummingbird in my front yard. I caught a glimpse of his tail feathers and dismissed it as a mushroom but something made me turn back.
There he was, nestled down into the tall grass. Had he fallen from the tree? Did a gust of wind catch him the wrong way and drive him into the Augustine grass? Upon picking him up I dismissed the idea of a predator. He was fully in tact, no sign of blood or trauma. And so light … featherweight indeed. There’s the obvious joke about birds finding the hospice nurse home and kicking the bucket. But we’ll probably never know why this little guy was dead on my front lawn. It was a wonderful opportunity to hold a hummingbird and experience the lightness of a remarkable being. Naturally I snapped some pictures to preserve the memory. I doubt this will come my way again.
(Originally published October 4, 2009)
A Backyard Naturalist
My backyard in west-central Florida is littered with spider webs right now. Things are getting out of control and community pressure will soon rain down on me to remove “those icky things.” If I don’t do it the association will have the maintenance crew take care of it. I can assure you the spiders will prefer my methodology as opposed to the take-no-prisoners tactics of the yard crew.
It’s not that I like spiders all that much but they do have a purpose. They eat all those other insects that I really don’t like — specifically roaches and mosquitos. So, I tolerate their unsightly webs and they help me out.
Besides, the webs are fascinating. So many different styles. Some are simple threads of silky rope seemingly strung with no rhyme or reason. And, of course, there is the “traditional” web that we have all seen on the cover of Charlotte’s Web. Some are dense cups silk that trap the poor insects who wander by. But the prize for artistic impression in a spider’s web must go to the Argiope family of spiders. And, while we are at it, they should also get the best costume design award.
Argiope spiders are common in gardens throughout the world and they are quite easy to spot due to their fantastic orb-web with its complex ziz-zag pattern. This web (above) was easy to spot in my backyard. From a distance it seemed as if a bit of paper had become lodged in the plants. It measured about 2″ long and about 1.5″ wide. The inhabitant was likely a female. All the reference sources claim the female is larger and this was a large spider.
She was very tolerant as I fussed around getting the camera set. The web was low to the ground, maybe six inches up. This meant getting the tripod in squatting mode and then inching it forward. I expected her to bolt at any moment but she tolerated me very well. And the detail of spider and web just kept getting better and better. Her black and white markings were lovely. There were touches of yellow that was almost iridescent.
She was such a poser that I had time to get my Tamron 90mm macro lens and that’s when she really came to life. Turns out she a face that only a mother could love. She’s a hairy little thing. But the face is a trick. Those two “eyes” are not eyes at all. She actually has four eyes (no, not glasses) and they are just beneath her furry “face” right above her pincers.
As I got closer she would start a bouncing motion that would vibrate the web and was, no doubt, an alarm directed at this weird beast that was moving towards her. After all, who knows what she seeing.
Backyards are great places for nature photography. There will be more accounts about my backyard in this blog. I hope you enjoy them.
Alice's WanderLand 