Blending

A wonderful start to the day!

Stepping out for our morning walk, we were delighted to find the Rat Snake. Now the question was would it stay there as I crept closer. Definitely no blending in with the environment here.
Furthermore it laid perfectly still. Thus I got a close up of its smooth scales. It never moved an inch. So we left it in peace!
Jim brought home a hitchhiker from the walk, a tiny Noctuidae green caterpillar. The little caterpillars have started to hang down on their silk.
This closeup shows the 5 pairs of prolegs. Prolegs are not true legs but are stubby structures that do help with their locomotion. Most of the larvae form of the Lepidoptera have some number of five or less prolegs. Though prolegs can be found on sawflies too. Sawflies have more than 5 pairs.
The six pointy real legs!
Many of male American Goldfinches are starting to get decked out in their finest outfits before they head north!
A skipper blended in with the new growth on Greenbriar (Smilax bon-nox)!
The Western Horse Nettle (Solanum dimidiatum) and Indian Paintbrush (Castilleja indivisa) decided to grow together. 🙂

Yellow Flax (Linum rigidum) got snuggled by a Ten-petal Anemone (Anemone belandieri) fluffy seeds! A blended family…LOL.

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Keep looking!

The more you know, the more you see and the more you see, the more you know

4 Comments

  1. You is my kind of peoples!! Getting excited over a snake or a caterpillar doesn’t have as big of an audience as the other kind, those that dislike them. I love hanging with those that get thrilled over these.
    Love the close up of the cat’s real legs. They are really pointed.
    And those fluffy seeds of the anemones are loved by hummingbirds for nesting material. I have seen it several times but am to slow with the camera.

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