Wild and Not So Wild World

Had a visit from our local gang the other night, with babies yet.
Plus I've lived in the desert for almost 60 yrs. and I have never seen a rattlesnake eating a dove. It's a little hard to make out on the last pic, but wonders never cease.

Some of the wildlife Buzzy is experiencing out in the desert at Mojave Oasis.

These were taken by my Dad's nieghbor at 6:30 in the morning. That is his front yard in Fort Walton Beach, FL.

Holy Crap Tom, I didn't know there were bears in Florida- I thought those were a northern US thing. From the looks of picture #2, there's gonna be more bears in FL! :lol:

Sweet! Where in FWB? I grew up there.

On 2011-06-24 15:57, MadDogMike wrote:
Holy Crap Tom, I didn't know there were bears in Florida

Of course there are bears in FL.

Bear
Not me though, I'm in CA.

Ha! I had heard of Gentle Ben but I did't see any TV in the 60's (or much since then for that matter)

My dad's place is close to the SR Mall. Their property is next to Hurlbert Field, which has a LARGE protected wooded area (part of the Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake sanctuary - that's part of where the Army Rangers train). My dad has told me many stories about his battle to live with the bears. Apparently they like to climb his fence, swim in his pool and dig through his trash. Cleaning the skimmer in his pool is an adventure - once when I was visiting we found a 6' king snake, still alive!

Mike - what doesn't FL have? Every time I turn around there's some other type of critter roaming around. Bears are fairly common everywhere in FL. 90% of FL is very rural - the other 10% has its own type of wildlife!

Case in point...

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/blogs/green-south-florida/sfl-nile-monitor-sightings-increase-in-broward-palm-beach-20110628,0,6013384.story

Do we really need a Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake sanctuary???!!! Can't we just let the damned things die out?

Tom, I got a question for you - do buzzards eat dead buzzards? We have a lot of Turkey Vultures out here. This morning I saw a dead one beside the road and 2 live ones standing near by. Were they mourning the loss of a friend or were they getting ready for breakfast? :lol: Sorry, no picture.

What's interesting is that the rattlesnake sanctuary is part of Eglin Air Force Base. Eglin is where the Army Rangers train and practice. Several years ago a couple Rangers died of "exposure" while training. I always wondered what they were "exposed" to? Eglin is also home to a mountain bike trail that winds its way through the heart of the protected property. While riding, one time I saw 3 - haven't been back since!

We have Turkey buzards too! Never seen them pass up any type of meal??

I thought it was just me. I have been carving in my garage with the door closed because these things have been REALLY bad (the garage is not a cool/refreshing place to carve when its 90+ outside).

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/health/fl-mosquito-season-20110722,0,3709131.story

I almost walked into this guy while mowing the grass. His web is so fine it is almost invisible. Must be effective, because you can see all of the bugs its caught. While taking the picture it was feeding on a freshly caught bee (those are bees and beetles above the spider, so you can see the proportions)). This is a big Golden Silk Spider - now, during their season these are in every gap between tress and buildings.

Heebie Geebies man. But they serve a purpose eating bugs. Thank you Mr. Spider, jus don't bite me please.

Just a story here. I'm always amazed at what I see when I'm laying on a float or just up on the deck by the pool. I few weeks ago I bald eagle came out of one of the tall pine trees and flew over head no more than 20 feet above me and into the woods. What a site. Then last night around 7:00 pm we were just floating around in the pool and my husband says here they come. And I said what? The turkey's he said. :o I never really seen a turkey in a tree before, but apparently every evening around the same time, the entire family comes walking through the woods, and one by one they fly up and land in a big catalpa tree behind the pool.. The mom & dad are huge and make a lot of noise in their leaps. But the little ones look like they have no problem flying up to the branches.. I never knew that's where they sleep. Did you?

:o What a scare yesterday when the dog's went crazy barking and jumping at the back door! Thank god I looked out the door before opening it! There standing in a walking position and looking straight at the door was a Big Bear! Everyone ran for their camera's but it started to walk towards the neighbors yard, stood up on the pool pump house looking right at my son now standing it the back yard trying to get a picture. The bear turned as my son starts now walking backwards at this point and the bear start moving towards him.. Thank god once he was out of view because of a tree, the bear went in the opposite direction... Never did get a picture, but It scared the heck out of me!

After all that bitein & slippin
Look what happened

[ Edited by: Will carve 2011-09-05 09:15 ]

On the way to my local mountain bike trail I pass by a canal. Littered all along the canal are shells, snail shells. Thousands of them. Most are empty but some are not. South Florida is bird central - everything from ducks to osprey to egrets to cranes to storks... Birds are everywhere, especially in the local Park. This guy let me walk to about 6' from him before he flew off with a snail in its beak.

On 2011-06-29 12:52, MadDogMike wrote:
Do we really need a Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake sanctuary???!!! Can't we just let the damned things die out?

I am with you on that one...we actually don't need any snakes in my opinion. My male Golden Retriever got a rattlesnake bite a few months ago...had to get anti-venom and stay overnight...caught it in time thank goodness.

edit...meant to post this viral video here too...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsC4xBzzBQk

[ Edited by: VampiressRN 2011-10-02 17:44 ]

On 2011-10-02 17:21, VampiressRN wrote:

On 2011-06-29 12:52, MadDogMike wrote:
Do we really need a Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake sanctuary???!!! Can't we just let the damned things die out?

I am with you on that one...we actually don't need any snakes in my opinion. My male Golden Retriever got a rattlesnake bite a few months ago...had to get anti-venom and stay overnight...caught it in time thank goodness.

edit...meant to post this viral video here too...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsC4xBzzBQk

[ Edited by: VampiressRN 2011-10-02 17:44 ]

These snakes keep the wild rodent population down, its all about the balance of nature.

Yeah I know...but we don't need rodents either...and cockroaches are not necessary...oh dear...I could go on and on...damn PETA!!! :lol:

I'm all for snakes, I love a good gopher snake or king snake. But I'm just not sure we need rattlesnakes. Damn Tom, those are some enormous snails!

Have been meaning to ask for quite a while:

Wild and Not So Wild America...and not even American ok?

[ Edited by: komohana 2011-10-15 20:50 ]

Komohana, I think you have a little advantage over us in that Autralia has the STRANGEST animals! (I mean that in a good way :D ) I, for one, would be happy to see what wildlife you have in your backyard.

I could change the title if you like. I'm all for it. Wild Wild World. Jus say the word and it's done.

I say...go for it!!! I think seeing animals all over the world is interesting. Plus, then I can expand my fear and hatred of evil creatures to a universal level. :lol:

Madagascar animals are wierd and wonderful too.

Thanks all,

Gawd...I just spent the last two hours putting together a post, then accidentally closed
the wrong tab (was checking my spelling) and lost the lot.
I'm fairly new to computers but can now actually type with TWO fingers so I'll try again,
maybe in shorter pieces.

Hang in there and give it another shot. I broke my right wrist and have a full arm cast on...just henpecking with my left hand... lol. Looking forward to your post.

If I'd known this thread now includes the rest of the world, I would have taken a photo of the big hairy spider I "rescued" from my bathtub and put outside yesterday (in other words, it was too big to wash down the plughole :) ). Oh well, I'm sure there will be others.

CN

Cheers MadDogMike, We do indeed have some strange wildlife, though possibly not
as strange as some of our two legged animals.

Thanks Jungle Trader, I just noticed you have changed the title of your thread.

Hi Vamp.

I really enjoy visiting this thread and was finally prompted to post following your
recent discussion regarding snakes, as we sometimes... maybe once a year or two...
find a Dugite in our yard. These snakes are highly venomous, but are generally fairly
docile and will happily go on their way if left alone, although they will strike if
startled, naturally enough.

One of them reared-up at my wife in the front yard not long ago, causing no end of commotion
and a few years ago our beloved cat, Moo, was bitten by one but being late in the season,
when their venom is less toxic, she survived (sadly though, she contracted FIP later on).

While living in a small fishing town north of Perth, I stood on one as I was distracted
by a friend driving past at that moment, I felt it strike my foot twice but as it was on
the flat upper side of my foot the fangs didn't pierce the skin. I bought a lotto ticket
that afternoon but of course my luck didn't extend that far.
A woman visiting that same town was not so lucky and died as a result of a bite because she
didn't seek medical help, a very foolish thing to do, I heard that because the snake was
only small she thought she'd be ok, but in fact the juveniles can be just as venomous as the adults.

Anyway, if I mention to someone that we've had a visit by one, they might say something like:
"ooo, did ya kill it? ya killed it, didn't ya?"
My answer is generally something like:
"nah, by the time I found something to kill it with and come back, it was gone"

And 'though they are protected by law and killing one can attract a fine of up to $4000.00,
the truth is that I'm just plain reluctant to kill them out of hand.
I don't have any photos unfortunately but next time I'll try to take a pic.

One day though I happened to have my camera with me as I opened the door to our small garage at the front
of our house and noticed a scuffling sound to my right and there was this small Bungarra (monitor lizard)
about 3 feet long hangin' off the wall...

...I'm generally not squeamish, but man, these things give me the creeps and if you ever startle one in
the bush you should hit the deck because they will climb a tree to escape and if you are the nearest "tree"
...well...a lot of people have been injured by their claws.

Over the last few years, we've noticed more Red Tailed Black Cockatoos visiting us, probably due to the
degradation of their more natural habitat further inland, and are now seen almost daily in our area.

In this pic the male is on the right, female on left...

...these spectacular birds are large, raucous and rowdy, they are also most welcome as they strip the berries off that lilac tree in no time, saving me a heap of work.

These are Kookaburra, seen here in the Lemon Flowering Gum in our back yard beside my shed and Tiki lounge

Not native to Western Australia but introduced from the East many years ago they have that iconic song
you've probably heard and as a bonus ...they eat young snakes (as do the bungarra).

More later and thanks again for making room for me and everyone else.

cheers, Rob.

*edit spelling mistake and minor facts.

[ Edited by: komohana 2011-10-06 20:11 ]

"a small Bungarra" about 3 feet long :lol: Great pics, can't wait to see more. The most exciting thing I have right now is toads in my front yard.

I didn't get a picture (probably a good thing) but I witnessed a squirrel running along my fence carrying a baby bird it had just robbed from a nest. It was the creepiest image. I never realized those adorable squirrels were so carnivorous.

I am glad we don't have venomous snakes or 3ft monitors however.

Darilyn

I love the idea of seeing critters from all around the world.Not just the big, iconic stuff but everything - even the most mundane encounter can be an adventure to someone on the other side of the globe!

aww heck, I only said America in the title cuz I was thinking too small. Perhaps I thought there wasn't a lot of people on TC from other parts of the world. How rong I was. Post on brothers and sisters!

On 2011-10-06 08:44, AlohaStation wrote:
I love the idea of seeing critters from all around the world.Not just the big, iconic stuff but everything - even the most mundane encounter can be an adventure to someone on the other side of the globe!

Agreed, for example, Will carves' post regarding the mating ritual of the lizards on page 10 was very entertaining. lol.

Just to again mention the bungarra, otherwise called racehorse goannas, they grow to about 4 1/2 feet,
but other monitors further inland reach well over 6ft and can scale a 60ft tree in the blink of an eye, very powerful critters.

And, yeah we have dangerous snakes, spiders and things but if you keep them in mind you're safe enough,
we certainly don't have to worry about big cats or bears etc. In fact there have been more fatalities
involving sharks in recent memory. This is kind of what I meant to allude to in my deleted post,
in regard to the removal of the rattle snakes from the picture: probably due to the decline in shark
numbers, large shoals of squid are more common and I believe watermen have been attacked by them
off the coast of California, substituting one nightmare for another.

Anyhow, I was just up the back clearing the grass here and next door and took a picture of a flowering blackboy
in the neighbours yard.
The politically correct would have us call them Australian Grass Trees but I've always known them as blackboys.
The leaves on this one are overgrown and you can usually see the trunk which are black, hence their name.
The stalk growing from the centre being the flower.

As Jungle Trader and others have said, let's see them critters, there's bugger-all on television worth watching
and if not tinkering in the shed, Tiki central is a great place to loiter.

[ Edited by: komohana 2011-10-06 23:12 ]

Here are a couple of cheeky fellas who I see hanging around down my street:

Hemiphaga novaeseelandiae, a.k.a. the bush pigeon or kukupa (or kereru if you are not from the North Island).

Traditionally, their feathers were used by Maori to make cloaks, but nowadays they are protected birds. They are substantially larger than boring old ordinary pigeons. They even hopped down onto an adjacent fence to get a closer look at me, but were scared away by a Maori woman driving past in a car who stopped to ask: "what are those birds?"

CN

Toto, j'ai l'impression que nous ne sommes plus au Kansas !

[ Edited by: Club Nouméa 2011-10-07 03:02 ]

[ Edited by: Club Nouméa 2011-10-07 03:04 ]

http://www.blackfeetnation.com/community/44-hiker-bitten-by-rogue-bear.html HA! Then scroll to bottom of page. It's not what you think.

Wild Turkey is the sighting rampage in Sacramento as of late. They are stopping traffic, hanging at the shopping malls and performing fly-bys at cars on country roads.

We would rather see this...

Yuummmmmm Turkey!

Hey Vamp, I had 6 in my front yard on Thursday. I have never seen turkeys wandering the neighborhood before. Sign of the apocalypse....?

Darilyn

Vamp, send those turkeys my way - maybe they can help with spider control. This is not the biggest spider I have ever seen, but I'm pretty sure he's the biggest one I've ever seen IN MY SHOWER! :lol:

(quarter for size reference)

OMG...that spider is scary.

Darilyn...Sandy & I saw a big tom hanging out at David's Bridle by the Galleria...probably there for his tux fitting. She drove up next to him, rolled down the window and he went into quite a rant...lol.

You guys have any idea how much it cost to have a mocking bird
pose atop your 9 ft Tiki ?
You know, I spare no expense to bring these pic to you.

Will, I want you to know I appreciate your dedication :D

On 2011-10-17 16:47, MadDogMike wrote:
Will, I want you to know I appreciate your dedication :D

He probably glued crickets to the top.

Ya see,
Crickets are expensive these days.

This has been a tough summer for my lizards.
Here you can see the female has lost her tail,
and her daughter has lost her left arm clear to the shoulder.
Her man has had it up to here & only
comes around occasionally.
I knew this would be important to you guys.