Lions & Tigers & Bears … Nah! Watersnakes & Poison Ivy on Three Day Weekend
Summertime finds more folks out in nature than at other times of the year, but, many lack knowledge of potentially harmful plants and animals other than the obvious ones they might encounter, and, so, naturally would try to avoid. Here are two examples that might get noticed too late.
They're not venomous, but they will bite aggressively, so, when at the lake, if near the water's edge, watch where you put your hands.
This critter was photographed during a successful fishing hunt. Northern Watersnake
© A. Mac/A.G.
If you're not familiar with POISON IVY, you should be aware it grows in several forms, as vines, or, as rooted plants.
And while not every plant with clusters of 3 leaves is poison ivy, when in doubt, the rule of thumb is, "Leaves of three, let it be."
Technically, "poison ivy" is not poisonous, rather, a plant whose resins affect individuals who are allergic to them.
© A. Mac/A.G.
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First-things-first. Check the article at the link below.
Scary stuff this week from you! I'm keeping your ivy pic for reference.
Good idea, when I was a young boy , playing in the woods I felt the call of nature. Remember that Native Americans used leaves I decided to follow that example. I had a rough two weeks that summer.
Great shot of the snake eating the fish. It looks a little big for him.
The snake's head “walks” forward in a side-to-side motion over the prey's body. In snakes, the lower bones of the jaw, or mandibles, are not connected like they are in mammals.
I knew snakes could do that, but I still thought it looked kind of big. I suppose they know what they're doing though, lol.
went rattlesnake hunting, after my friend had gotten his license, right near Pennsylvania Grand Canyon near Wellsboro Pa, i believe. Amazing how many are right off well traveled trails. We had gathered up 5, within twenty minutes, only one was mature and large enuff to be a keeper. Talk up herding cats, they were all attempting to slither away in every direction. Very cool. I had caught my share of snakes in the past, but gathering this many venomous snakes up together, and then containing them with a homemade snake stick, was just plain cool
i've seen one that did bite off more than he could swallow, and he had to go seek smaller prey
It most likely would not have gained its reputation unless most people ARE allergic to it.
Snakes never concerned me when I was a little kid - I used to bring them home, but I do think a 215 lb Burmese python would trouble me.
Sorry, I can't stand snakes.
Keeping with my intention of posting photos I took up to a half a century ago with my favourite camera, a Canon F1 35mm film SLR, with the films processed and the photos enlarged in my home darkroom, this photo, also seen before, is called "Tracks". The story to the photo is that up the street from my grandfather's dry goods store was a park on which is located one of the city's original settler's mansions, which became known as Dundurn Castle, located on raised grounds below which were the marshalling yards for the TH&B (Toronto, Hamilton & Buffalo) Railway. I would walk there from my grandfather's store to sit up on the hill and watch the trains shunting below. In the late 1970s I went back there (a 40 mile drive from Toronto on the Queen Elizabeth Highway) to sit on that same hill behind the castle and took this photo to be a permanent memory of a childhood passtime.
Super photo, Buzz.
Cool, Buzz. Reminds me of old photos of the Kansas City railyards.
A Shaman performing a Ritual for Thursday....
The image ignites with fiery energy.
Thank you, Buzz. Very glad you like it.
We made our annual pilgrimage to Betty's Pies on Wednesday after work. Stopped at the Two Harbors breakwall to walk the dog a bit. It was quite warm and very windy next to Lake Superior.
Superior photos.
I see what you did there LOL
Great photos, EG. They look very refreshing and enjoyable.
I've got a friend on the opposite shore now that's riding the trans canadian trail from toronto to vancouver. we're calling it the unofficial tim horton's tour.
Nice! Mrs Evil wants to do the Lake Superior Circle Tour one of these days.
bike riding stopped being fun when I got a paper route in the 60's.
A new one for Friday...
A Tribal spiritual leader performing a sacred ritual
A little of Dali, a little of Picasso and a lot of Raven Wing - very interesting.
Thank you very much, Buzz.
Setting sun sitting on a roof. Stone Creek, Ocala FL.
My oh my, what a very impressive sunset, Kavika. Great timing as well, showing the sun resting all comfy on the house roof top. Awesome!
You get 3 "F"s for that Foto - Fabulous, Fantastic and Far Out.
A Study for a Stained Glass Window
© G. Gam
Wow! Talk about your psychedelic imagination.....that's a great one!
Thank you, Raven Wing.
Good one, Gsquared!
Thanks, A. Mac!
Mesmerizing.
Cool.
Well done G. It looks like what you set out to achieve!
Thanks, Perrie.
looks like winter of 1974. 2 tabs of chocolate mescaline and 3 bong hits of columbian to take the edge off.
I think it looks like medieval France, possibly inside the cathedrals at Chartres or Rouen, or Notre Dame, with a modern twist, of course.
Hello hoomans, just having a bit of lunch and would appreciate not being disturbed.
A Monarch Butterfly caterpillar … a hopeful sign since much Monarch habitat has been destroyed in recent years and the butterflies have been scarce (up north in places).
Sadly that is true, Mac. There are many areas that are now establishing Monarch Butterfly habitats.
I read recently, and thankfully, that they are rebounding in Mexico.
Even years ago when I lived in Monterey CA, there was a wonderful, large sanctuary in Pacific Grove. In the late Fall, they would cluster on the Eucalyptus trees then move to the pines and in early Spring, the cypress trees.
I don't think I have seen a caterpillar in years.
meh, I've got anatomy I haven't seen in decades...
It keeps life interesting, doesn’t it?
Here you go, Ender, enjoy!
Okay, as long as you're not eating MY lunch.
A Shaman greets an early morning sunrise.......
Very nice, very colourful.
Thanks Buzz.
Old Glory facing the incoming storm yesterday. Stone Creek, Ocala FL.
Great use of contrast.
A great photo, Kavika.
Storm clouds and the flag, very apropos for this week.
We finally had some rain yesterday. I think it has been about a month. Not much rain and a heat wave with 100 temps.
A hummingbird, a box turtle, and an overzoomed fox squirrel chowing down on mulberries.
Good wildlife grouping!
Thanks, Mac.
They have their eyes on you...
A very enjoyable series of photos, Dig. Nature at it's daily life.
You could entitle the 4th photo "Here's lookin' at you, kid".
I love the deep woods … a most spiritual setting.
© A. Mac/A.G.
Serenity.
I miss my time in the woods. Used to, literally live in them by choice, on weekends. Wherever i rolled off my quad, in the early mornings, i would lay my head. i may have to visit them, very soon.
Indeed a very Spiritual setting, Mac. I love the mixture of aromas of the various blossoms of the different trees and plants of the forest floor. I had the pleasure of just sitting quietly in the forests of the Shenandoah Mountains in No. Virginia and listening to the sounds and sights surrounding me. It is the homeland of my Maternal Cherokee ancestors., so it also had a very special meaning for me.
...if only it wasn't for those damn mosquitoes.
Oh, hey A. Mac, I almost forgot. I don't know how often you visit the main page, but I posted a video there this week and you may not have seen it. I caught some wren chicks fledging from a birdhouse and managed to record the whole thing.
Way back … c. 1964, when working towards my degree in biology, I did a project for an ornithology course. I won't go into specifics, rather, I'll state that I WISH I HAD PRESENTED SOMETHING AS HIGH QUALITY AS YOUR VIDEO, outstandingly representative of a specific aspect of the life cycle of a particular bird species!
Well done!
Hey, thanks. I was hoping you'd enjoy that. I got really lucky with the timing. I have chicks in another birdhouse that are getting ready to fledge, but of course I can't watch it all the time, so unless I get lucky again I'll probably miss the action from that one. I've already missed one entirely this year.
An excellent video, Dig. I really enjoyed seeing the chicks getting up their courage to take their first flight into the new world around them.
Thank you so much for sharing these nature videos with us.
Thanks. Most of the fun in making them is showing them to people.
I love all your pics and vids Dig.
I haven't been posting any because I really haven't been going anywhere, so nothing new.
I think it is even too hot for the birds around here right now.
I hear you. It's 99 in the shade here right now. It's too damn early for that. My poor garden. Supposed to get some relief tomorrow, though.
It's been over 100 here for the last 4 days, and we are on watering restrictions. My garden is not happy.
I guess I'm lucky that I don't have water issues. I've got a pretty good aquifer system under me.
I'm starting to worry about the water situation out west, though, and I don't even live there.
We get plenty of muddy waters. Haha
You are very lucky. We have to rely on irrigation systems. We can only use our sprinklers twice a week for 8 minutes for each station. The leaves of our lavenders and sages are turning yellow. We did not have a single iris this year. I hope things survive. We don't have a lawn. I live on a hill and took out the small grass areas we had years ago. Some of our neighbors have lawns and they are turning brown.
That was an absolutely fabulous video, a virtual lesson in nature.
And another one for Saturday....this one goes back a ways;
Another winner - keep going back. One should not be satisfied with only one look at great creative art.
Thank you for your very kind words, Buzz. I have made changes over time to my techniques, framing, choice of backgrounds and such, but, I still have a warm place for my early beginnings. And there are some here now who may not have seen them, so I like to revisit the early ones now and then. And there is still so much to learn from them as well that can help me continue to grow.
Beautiful and Caravaggiesque as well. Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, known as simply Caravaggio, was an Italian painter active in Rome for most of his artistic life.
A very interesting image, Mac.
This was from a couple of years ago. It was taken on the 4th of July. We parked on the beach.
My fireworks vid is on this site somewhere. I need to see if I can find it.
Found it. Full discloser, this was not 4th of July, was New Years Eve.
Probably should wait for next week. Haha
How about we'll just consider it a preview of good things to come.
Got a bang out of that.
That's an excellent photo, Ender. It has depth and motion (the wind bending the fronds).
It's Sunday, so let's dance.....
Another good one to grace the weekend Creative Arts group pages.
Thank you very much, Buzz.
I am going to adopt a new symbol.
See if anyone knows what it is...
it adapted a "45" record to fit on the spindle of an LP turntable. damn I'm old...
Lies I tell you. It is a secret society.
I still have a couple of them
YOU'RE old? Never mind the 45s, I go back to the 78s and having to change the needle when it got dull, and listening to the record of Positively Mr. Gallagher Absolutely Mr. Shean at my grandmother's home.
it does look a little like one of those new neo-nazi emblems.
End of the weekend. Sunset Stone Creek, Ocala, FL.
Another beauty, Kavika. The 4 levels of colors of the sky and clouds, and their reflection of the water beneath them, tells a very unique story.
Great shot!
Real beautiful shot! Prefect lighting.
Meta cleanup in thread @18.1
oops
Thanks to all; will lock it down in an hour or so.
thanks again, amac!
Indeed.....
See everyone Thursday night!