The Backyard Naturalist
I have been pleasantly surprised by the change in flora and fauna since I've moved back east. The environment is leafy and green compared to the dust and scrub brush of the Central Coast in California. I really enjoy the change of seasons and the corresponding creatures that those changes bring.
I had been mowing the lawn on a warm September Sunday when I noticed a quick flailing object in front of the mower, desperately trying to escape. I stopped the mower and stooped down for a closer inspection and saw a big brown praying mantis crawling up the side of a stripling, frantically trying to escape the gaping maw of my handy dandy Snapper self propelled lawn mower.
It's known as the Carolina Mantis which is also very prevalent in Ohio. They're different from the bright green mantises (California Mantis) that I was used to seeing in documentaries, but no less impressive. This Carolina Mantis was huge, about six inches long and had what looked like bony brown plates covering it's body. A formidable predator indeed. What is interesting to me about mantises is the high regard they're held in by most humans. Most people I know can't stand bugs. In most cases they're vermin that need to be exterminated. But when confronted with a big mantis people will look at it in awe, in a very respectful way. I've always wondered why that reaction is produced. Maybe it's because it's so powerful in it's own way. It reminds me of the insectoid creature in the Alien films, a killing machine that could not be stopped. I like their intricacy, their ferocious nature and their almost single-minded approach to killing, eating and mating. I ran into the same species of mantis two more times. Once while Grimace was over, he discovered it on the fushia tree in my backyard. The other was while opening the garage door, this one just wanted to get out of my way as I pulled the car into the garage.
On another day I'm working on the front porch in the bright morning sunlight. I'm working on re-assembling the railings of the porch, they still need sanding and painting. I look away to the street and then back quickly and I see that a large dragonfly has settled onto the side of the porch. It is reddish in color with translucent lacey wings.
This particular species is known as they Easterm Amberwing also prevalent here in Ohio. This one had a wingspan of about three inches. In comparison, dragonflies during the time of the dinosaurs 100 million years ago had wingspans of up to two feet across. A formidable insect! Dragonflies have always fascinated me.
Finally, the squirrels. I'm in a little bit of a hurry as I walk to the garage through the backyard. I notice a squirrel frolicking by the garage door and the little guy tries to climb the doorjamb of the access door to the garage. However, the jamb is smooth and he can only get halfway up, about door knob level, before he can't climb any higher. He's stuck and completely at my mercy. But I'm standing a good six feet away, waiting for him to come down and scamper away so I can get into the garage. He clings tenaciously to the door jamb, looking at me intently. I need to get going so I thought I'd shoo him away by taking a step closer. He didn't back down like I thought. Instead the little bastard GROWLED AT ME. Let me repeat...the goddam squirrel GROWLED AT ME! Great. I'm being held hostage by a vicious squirrel. That always looks great on your resume. I had this horrible fantasy of him jumping onto my crotch and sinking his rodent incisors into my waiting testicles as I screamed in pain like a little girl. If you've seen those Capitol One commercials where "Chubsie" is being chased by that big dude then you know what I mean. I'd be jumping frantically around the backyard as my neighbors called 911 and wondered what horrible creature could be causing me such pain. In reality the squirrel and I had a Mexican stand-off for about five minutes. He clambered down and finally scampered away, his fluffy tail flouncing about like most squirrels do. I let out a sigh of relief as our long national nightmare was over. Bless the beasts.
I had been mowing the lawn on a warm September Sunday when I noticed a quick flailing object in front of the mower, desperately trying to escape. I stopped the mower and stooped down for a closer inspection and saw a big brown praying mantis crawling up the side of a stripling, frantically trying to escape the gaping maw of my handy dandy Snapper self propelled lawn mower.
It's known as the Carolina Mantis which is also very prevalent in Ohio. They're different from the bright green mantises (California Mantis) that I was used to seeing in documentaries, but no less impressive. This Carolina Mantis was huge, about six inches long and had what looked like bony brown plates covering it's body. A formidable predator indeed. What is interesting to me about mantises is the high regard they're held in by most humans. Most people I know can't stand bugs. In most cases they're vermin that need to be exterminated. But when confronted with a big mantis people will look at it in awe, in a very respectful way. I've always wondered why that reaction is produced. Maybe it's because it's so powerful in it's own way. It reminds me of the insectoid creature in the Alien films, a killing machine that could not be stopped. I like their intricacy, their ferocious nature and their almost single-minded approach to killing, eating and mating. I ran into the same species of mantis two more times. Once while Grimace was over, he discovered it on the fushia tree in my backyard. The other was while opening the garage door, this one just wanted to get out of my way as I pulled the car into the garage.
On another day I'm working on the front porch in the bright morning sunlight. I'm working on re-assembling the railings of the porch, they still need sanding and painting. I look away to the street and then back quickly and I see that a large dragonfly has settled onto the side of the porch. It is reddish in color with translucent lacey wings.
This particular species is known as they Easterm Amberwing also prevalent here in Ohio. This one had a wingspan of about three inches. In comparison, dragonflies during the time of the dinosaurs 100 million years ago had wingspans of up to two feet across. A formidable insect! Dragonflies have always fascinated me.
Finally, the squirrels. I'm in a little bit of a hurry as I walk to the garage through the backyard. I notice a squirrel frolicking by the garage door and the little guy tries to climb the doorjamb of the access door to the garage. However, the jamb is smooth and he can only get halfway up, about door knob level, before he can't climb any higher. He's stuck and completely at my mercy. But I'm standing a good six feet away, waiting for him to come down and scamper away so I can get into the garage. He clings tenaciously to the door jamb, looking at me intently. I need to get going so I thought I'd shoo him away by taking a step closer. He didn't back down like I thought. Instead the little bastard GROWLED AT ME. Let me repeat...the goddam squirrel GROWLED AT ME! Great. I'm being held hostage by a vicious squirrel. That always looks great on your resume. I had this horrible fantasy of him jumping onto my crotch and sinking his rodent incisors into my waiting testicles as I screamed in pain like a little girl. If you've seen those Capitol One commercials where "Chubsie" is being chased by that big dude then you know what I mean. I'd be jumping frantically around the backyard as my neighbors called 911 and wondered what horrible creature could be causing me such pain. In reality the squirrel and I had a Mexican stand-off for about five minutes. He clambered down and finally scampered away, his fluffy tail flouncing about like most squirrels do. I let out a sigh of relief as our long national nightmare was over. Bless the beasts.
Comments
Aaah. Dragonfly. Picture.
Oh. Squirrel. Picture?
Oooh. Vicious squirrel... Hmmm. Picture? ;)
back yard. A tree branch snapped and down came the branch with squirrel
attached. Well, they have a dog. The dog was trying to get to the "dead"
squirrel(young boy thought it was dead). So the young boy picked up the
squirrel to take it to the front yard to keep the dog from getting at it.
In this event. The "dead" squirrel came alive and climbed up the boys arm.
Then he tried to get it off and the sweet "dead" squirrel grabbed ahold
of his point finger and didn't let go for sometime. I ran over to him
and then the "dead sweet" squirrel released him. Leaving the kid a bloody
mess. Took him to him mommy who was totally in shock. At the hosp, he had one shot
and that was about it. No rabies reported in this area for 10 years at the time.
I feel for ya the fool. They are nothing to mess with. "dead or alive" haha.
Well squirrels are getting more brazen even in Manhattan, but everything is
Pia, I still don't know if it's "mantises" or "manti". I just bluffed my way through this essay with "mantises". Did everybody think I knew what I was talking about?
Kurves, and not one iota of sympathy for my poor nads? *sniffle* I was going to mention the female's penchant for beheading her male lover but I knew that the naughty ones out there in the blogosphere would ask..."Which one?" :)
Ah, mantises...we had the big green ones in Hawaii. They were pretty big, and neat-looking - some bugs, like cockroaches, just look dirty, mantises look cleaner - the thing I seem to remember as making them look somehow more intelligent & aware than other insects was the way that they could turn their triangular heads to inspect things - you could look at them and tell that they were looking BACK AT you in a way that other insects don't really seem to do.
OK, gotta say walking in the rain is nice but it's been raining for like 7 days now, 'tis getting a trifle monontonous. Cold too!
THAT'S what's cool about them. They actually look like they're thinking which is weird.