Oops. It has been so wet that I have not ventured down to the valley to check the trail cam in two months. There were over 900 pictures on the camera and the batteries were almost dead! There was also a round yellow spider egg sac situated right over the camera lens.
Luckily, the occlusion was deposited only about a week ago, so there were plenty of pictures without a giant fuzzy spot, mostly of raccoons, cats, opossums, and armadillos, with the occasional leg of fox or coyote.
(I figured I would spell it out in the title so those disinclined toward serpents could skip this post.) My eagle-eyed eldest spotted something in the backyard and informed me that there was a snake out there eating something. I grabbed the snake grabber and went to investigate, but it was just a plain bellied water snake eating a toad, no venomous beastie (I did get the ID from the experts on “What Snake is This? North Texas Educational Group on FB). I’m a little sad for the toad, as we seem to be down to one backyard toad and one garage toad, but it was really cool to watch the snake. We kept the dogs inside as the snake lay by our patio table waiting for the toad to deflate so it could finish the process of swallowing it. We would check on it at intervals (and take pictures), and finally the poor pups couldn’t cross their legs anymore so we put them on leashes to go do their business. The snake, full and sluggish, eventually slid out of the yard. It took two hours, but the serpent was eventually able to finish its very large meal!
It finally dried out enough to give the grass a mow. This little brown skink scurried out of harms way and up the wall, so he got his picture taken. My mowing job was definitely subpar, but I’m going to blame most of the missed spots on playing “don’t jump there” with toads!
We were eating lunch and saw some nine-banded armadillos foraging in the back woods during a cloudy afternoon. These are probably last year’s litter, as they seem to be full grown (the cats are 10 pounds, and they look about the same size).The two cats (Big Orange Tom and Sophie) prowling the area completely left them alone. Nine-banded armadillos are insectivores and these are digging for grubs and worms. I recorded for 5 minutes, within 6 feet at times. I’m not sure they even knew I was there. Sorry for the shaky footage, the mosquitoes were eating me alive. Totally worth it!
There was a little honey bee crawling around in our back yard. I was concerned for his safety (I think it may be a drone, large eyes and no stinger), so I moved it outside the fenced area and away from the dog’s feet (and noses). I did offer him some sugar water, but he wasn’t interested. Good luck finding what you are looking for little bee!
Critters and Craft 