Sneaky Critters for $200, Alex

zackiedawg

zackiedawg

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I thought I'd share some of my sneaky critters from the wetlands the past few weeks.

Here's an alligator up close, resting in the sun: ; We know they're sneaky, because they cruise through the water as just a pair of eye bumps and a pair of nostrils, hiding all the business-end stuff under the water. ; When they sun themselves, you get a chance to see the business end!:
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This is a common type of orb-weaver spider here in Florida - there are millions of them all over backyards to the everglades. ; They put their webs in the most annoying places - usually strategically stretched across your pathway next to your garbage cans so you can walk into them in the morning when you're not expecting it:
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This guy was trying to hide, and doing so very well, but I happened to look down and look closely, and saw this Florida banded water snake hiding in the reeds. ; You could have stepped right on him, not knowing he was even there. ; Fortunately, they're not poisonous:
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Speaking of hiding, this raccoon was sneaking through the wetlands looking for bird nests to raid - he knew he'd been spotted by the guy with the big lens, and thought he could sneak away behind the cover of the stalks. ; He occasionally would peek around the corner to see if I was still there:
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Thanks all. ; Those spiders are very common down here - fortunately they are basically harmless - I've let them crawl around my hand and arm as a kid and never had even a bite - they seem to rarely if ever bite someone, unless very very threatened...and when they do, I've heard it's just a mild 'ow' - no poisons, no bad swelling (unless you are allergic or something). ; Because of that funny hard shell on their back, you can handle them easily by pinching two of those spines with your fingers; the rest of the spider dangles helplessly below. ; That pattern on their shell has earned them the nickname 'skull spiders' as the black dots on white background seem to be in the pattern of a skull face.

The raccoon was adorable - I got 3 usable shots of him, but had to long-zoom through an awful lot of reeds and leaves to find his little face peering back. ; He would walk 10 steps or so, then freeze and glance back at me through the reeds, then walk again, etc. ; Not running or panicking...just a very slow deliberate amble away with an occasional glance back.
 
nice shots!
yep, those spiders show up on our porch every now and then. never played with them though, just squished em!
 
Awww...they're nice spiders Craig! ; They eat other bugs too, so they're good to have around the house. ; (though I sometimes get a little angry when I blindly walk into their webs, and those spiders might face my rage a bit). ; In general, I leave them to do their work.

The Golden orb-weavers on the other hand...they're a bit creepy to get on you as they're just a wee bit too HUGE. ; And one of their webs will literally stop a jogging man cold. ; I've seen garbage can lids and steel-toed boots hanging in those webs, and none the worse for wear.[nb]OK...I exxagerate a bit. ; But those webs are strong![/nb]
 
"zackiedawg" said:
The Golden orb-weavers on the other hand...they're a bit creepy to get on you as they're just a wee bit too HUGE.
Click to expand...

A BIT creepy? They give me a serious case of creep out. I once got one on my face. (shudder) I was mowing the lawn between some orange trees, and as I drove around the corner, smack, right into a web between the trees that wasn't there the previous day. I still get goose bumps thinking about it.

Erich
 
OK...yeah, I wouldn't want one on me (the golden orbs)...but I don't mind seeing them around. ; And boy do we have lots of them. ; Along our beach parks, the boardwalks are literally lined with hundreds of them, like garland draped over your head. ; You walk beneath dozens of them, just a foot or less above you. ; I guess I've learned to adapt to the sight, but friends or relatives visiting from out of town positively freak out. ; I've had one friend who refused to go to the beach there...had to drive to a whole other beach park where there was no tree canopy to pass through.

There's no scale for size here, but this one was running about 6 inches:
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This gives you an idea how well they blend in...walking along through the trees, you didn't even see this chick or her web. ; I had to get the camera in just the right position to get the light to glint off the web and get a shot of him:
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Both of those are shot at the beach, along the trails heading through the ocean ridge tree canopy down to the ocean. ; (BTW -for those unfamiliar with them, the males are about 1/4 the size of the females - the females are the bigguns - after the male does his duty and helps fertalize the eggs, he gets EATEN by the female!).
 
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