Don’t go in the tall grass....

[RD.]

Fantastic shots of the spiders! My wife would be forcing me to move if she saw anything remotely close to those in our yard! lol

I kept praying mantis as a kid, and while I have never seen a cicada in person, I once sold a 1920's Rookwood Cicada wall pocket, in green, apparently uber rare as it sold for $1,500 US. So rare that at the time David Rago from American Antiques Roadshow had never seen one in the green form.

Absolutely wonderful shots! I love these guys, they pop up in my acreage every year as well. We also get golden orb weavers and several other large species of orb weaver. I also look forward to my pitcher plants and my native orchids. We ALSO have foxes, deer, bobcats, possums, and the like out here. I love nature lol

Here's the giant version of your bobcat. lol



Of course we have the even larger version, sometimes right here in the city limits. (Mountain Lion)

We have deer on our lawn almost nightly (in the wee hours) and I see foxes etc on a regular basis. We also see moose from time to time, my wife took the following pic several years ago when out walking our dog. I had to call Fish & Wildlife in to tranq them and remove them, as they were less than a block from an elementary school and it was less than an hour until lunch break. IMO, a female moose with calf is about as dangerous as a Grizzly.

 

[Matteus]

I’d love to see a mantis! Them guys are so cool. It’s amazing you got to hatch some!



I’ll have to look for some of my other cicada pictures. I find two or three live ones a year. I find dead ones and their shed casings more often then seeing live ones. You can hear them all the time. As a kid I told my mom that was the sound of summer. Lol

I share the same sentiments of both these creatures. Have always been fascinated by mantis since a child.

Was only introduced to cicadas in my mid 20’s on a trip to Costa Rica. Where I found it to be a magical/tropical jungle sound. I love the sound of them screaming all around. I am currently atm in the city I am planning to move to next year, and one of the things capturing my heart about this place is a constant buzz of cicadas. My sister in law has also coined the phrase that they are the sound of summer. It’s super hot here as well so I call it a tropical paradise.(compared to the frozen desert I typically live in lol.)

Another sound I am quite fond of is what I call the sound of spring, which is the frogs chirping. Always brings me back to childhood. We would go into the swampy type fields and catch hundreds of frogs and try to keep them as pets for as long as possible.

 

[MrsE88]

I was thinking Wow, when I saw that $500 fine, but Thx for clarifying. I just kicked a praying mantis out of one of my fish rooms yesterday. Had one land on a (screened) tank lid a couple of months ago, which I was alerted to by hearing my Blue Base jumping up and trying to eat it.

I'm more concerned about being surprised by one these types of critters though. I captured this guy a few months ago and let him go in a nearby field. A few days ago my daughter found a long piece of shedded snake skin at the top of these stairs. I think he came back lol.

View attachment 1384629

That snake is gorgeous!

I love all the wildlife pictures!
I was a major tomboy growing up. I spent every free moment I had exploring my parents 1 1/2acer lot. Not a big area, but a lot was wooded so there were lots of bugs, snakes, skinks, toads, frogs, ect. I kept many temporary pets. A few baby bunnies, toads, snakes, and a salamander I hide in my room for a week. Lol
I’m happy my kids are getting the opportunity to be exposed to nature like I was. Even if it is just in a small way.

 

[Chicxulub]

My Pokémon master

View attachment 1384641

Raising em right brother

Fantastic shots of the spiders! My wife would be forcing me to move if she saw anything remotely close to those in our yard! lol

I kept praying mantis as a kid, and while I have never seen a cicada in person, I once sold a 1920's Rookwood Cicada wall pocket, in green, apparently uber rare as it sold for $1,500 US. So rare that at the time David Rago from American Antiques Roadshow had never seen one in the green form.






Here's the giant version of your bobcat. lol

View attachment 1384648

Of course we have the even larger version, sometimes right here in the city limits. (Mountain Lion)

We have deer on our lawn almost nightly (in the wee hours) and I see foxes etc on a regular basis. We also see moose from time to time, my wife took the following pic several years ago when out walking our dog. I had to call Fish & Wildlife in to tranq them and remove them, as they were less than a block from an elementary school and it was less than an hour until lunch break. IMO, a female moose with calf is about as dangerous as a Grizzly.

View attachment 1384649

Neil that's amazing! That lynx is to die for!

That snake is gorgeous!

I love all the wildlife pictures!
I was a major tomboy growing up. I spent every free moment I had exploring my parents 1 1/2acer lot. Not a big area, but a lot was wooded so there were lots of bugs, snakes, skinks, toads, frogs, ect. I kept many temporary pets. A few baby bunnies, toads, snakes, and a salamander I hide in my room for a week. Lol
I’m happy my kids are getting the opportunity to be exposed to nature like I was. Even if it is just in a small way.

That's awesome! I grew up on acreage as well, and was influenced in the same way. I'm raising my kid in the dirt surrounded by nature as well, in hopes that the passion goes on another generation.

We've had some talk of mantids on here, and I can participate in that, too. In my Swamp, I've vouchered four species, with pics of three. We have the Carolina mantid, Stagmomantis carolina, seen here stalking a grasshopper-




The grasslike mantid, Thesprotia graminis-




The grizzly bark mantid, Gonatista grisea. This one is a male-




And as a bonus, the wasplike mantidfly, Climaciella brunnea-



The final species of mantid we have here is the rarest and most special: Brunneria borealis. I've vouchered these on this property historically, but not recently. These are among the longest native mantids, with exceptional specimens reaching upwards of six inches long. I haven't seen one in about ten years, and I hope that they're still present, but I have my doubts. This species is especially unique in that there are no male Brunneria borealis as such, they are all females and are all clones of their mother, which makes these insects a parthenogenetic species. These animals also never leave the larval stage of their life, a condition known as neoteny. These huge mantids are dependent on open, grassy habitat, with a particular affinity for bluestem grasses (Andropogon). With the spread of successional woodlands in the South due to fire suppression, this species is facing extinction.

The pic below came from google, as I haven't seen a live specimen in a VERY long time-

 

[RD.]

The grizzly bark mantid, Gonatista grisea.

That is crazy cool, as is the mantidfly. Thanks for sharing!

 

[Ulu]

I found one of these, and I preserved it just for the colors.

If I manage to finish my hot rod before I croak, I want to use the same color scheme for the paint.

 

[Dloks]

I found one of these, and I preserved it just for the colors.

If I manage to finish my hot rod before I croak, I want to use the same color scheme for the paint.

View attachment 1384719

Copyright infringement! I can recognize that hand anywhere!

 

[Chicxulub]

That is crazy cool, as is the mantidfly. Thanks for sharing!

Thanks! The bark mantid is my favorite species. They're quite dimorphic- the males are as pictured, small with big wings so they can go find the ladies. The females are much larger and thicker, with non functional wings that only go about halfway to the end of the abdomen

I found one of these, and I preserved it just for the colors.

If I manage to finish my hot rod before I croak, I want to use the same color scheme for the paint.

View attachment 1384719

Dude that would be awesome if you can pull it off!

 

[Warborg]

After years of believing the praying mantis was protected and killing one was a crime now read that is a myth. I personally will still protect a mantis if in harm's way.

I heard that too when I was growing up(PA; mother was from Ohio).

I can't believe I forgot to mention these guys!

We also have a breeding population of leucistic squirrels here in the Swamp! They're very cryptic, however. We see them on a halfway regular basis, but it is quite rare that they allow us to get close enough to get a picture.

View attachment 1384630

Me and my wife saw an albino squirrel on UT campus. We did take pictures of it but the camera was lost(damaged) before it got it a computer. A real albino(red eyes and all).

 

[MrsE88]

Raising em right brother



Neil that's amazing! That lynx is to die for!



That's awesome! I grew up on acreage as well, and was influenced in the same way. I'm raising my kid in the dirt surrounded by nature as well, in hopes that the passion goes on another generation.

We've had some talk of mantids on here, and I can participate in that, too. In my Swamp, I've vouchered four species, with pics of three. We have the Carolina mantid, Stagmomantis carolina, seen here stalking a grasshopper-

View attachment 1384693


The grasslike mantid, Thesprotia graminis-

View attachment 1384694


The grizzly bark mantid, Gonatista grisea. This one is a male-

View attachment 1384695


And as a bonus, the wasplike mantidfly, Climaciella brunnea-

View attachment 1384696

The final species of mantid we have here is the rarest and most special: Brunneria borealis. I've vouchered these on this property historically, but not recently. These are among the longest native mantids, with exceptional specimens reaching upwards of six inches long. I haven't seen one in about ten years, and I hope that they're still present, but I have my doubts. This species is especially unique in that there are no male Brunneria borealis as such, they are all females and are all clones of their mother, which makes these insects a parthenogenetic species. These animals also never leave the larval stage of their life, a condition known as neoteny. These huge mantids are dependent on open, grassy habitat, with a particular affinity for bluestem grasses (Andropogon). With the spread of successional woodlands in the South due to fire suppression, this species is facing extinction.

The pic below came from google, as I haven't seen a live specimen in a VERY long time-

View attachment 1384697

Those pictures are spectacular! That mantidfly would definitely fool me! Nature is so amazing