What's this in my Yard?

[Racoon]

Theres lots of bugs and spiders; not the computer kind, the creepy crawly kind. :blink: :)

 

I saw a few of these spiders quietly colonizing the bottom of some flat wood that was dark and damp underneath.

Extra rep for anyone who can help identify them, taxinomically or otherwise.

Region: Western Washington, United States

 

How many types of critters make a refuge in your yard or nearby area?

B)

 

[Guest chendoh]

Well Rac, its a little hard to tell, being 2800 miles away or so....

But your close to either;

 

A False Black Widow steatoda grossa or

 

A Western Black Widow latrodectus hersperus.

 

I'm leaning more towards steatoda grossa, cause I don't think you'd wanna check the underbelly of latrodectus hersperus. Unless ya really wanna piss it off.

 

Besides yours isn't as dark as latrodectus.

 

As far as 'critters' go, We've gotta bunch. The lower 1/3 of our yard is wetlands, so everything from, peepers, turtles, garter snakes, spiders, fox, deer, turkey, bees, wasps, worms, crickets, ants, squirres, birds, hawkes, owls, chipmunks, mice, voles, skunks, groundhog, ducks, geese, cicadia,

An those are just the one's I can see! :)

don't have eagles yet, but they are in the next county.

 

And most important of all, Candy our Cat, who is mistress of all she surveys. Ya 'otta see what she brings home sometimes! B)

 

I've had to warn Candy at times because I've spotted the red tails eyein' her up!

[Racoon]

I think you are right Chendoh.

You made short work of that one. Nicely played. :) At first glance my imagination leapt to Black Widow; how "false" I was. :D

 

SDNHM: Steatoda grossa spider (False Black Widow)

 

 

Be on the alert for suspicious and unknown creatures that may be lurking about. :hihi: B) :Guns: :) :blink:

[Guest chendoh]

Thank You for the rep.B)

Here's one that always gives me the creeps :) the woodlouse hunter...

 

 

 

[Jay-qu]

I find lots of different spiders and creatures - I cleared out a stack of wood last week and found lizards, rats, spiders, milipedes and centipedes..

[Guest chendoh]

Extra rep for anyone who can help identify them, taxinomically or otherwise.

 

Region: Central Pennsylvania, United States

 

From insects to flora,

 

I don't think I can give 'extra rep', but rep all the same, following Racoon's guidelines.

[freeztar]

It's definitely a butercup. I would say creeping buttercup (Ranunculus repens).

Creeping buttercup - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Guest chendoh]

freeztar, I will go with your (Ranunculus repens); I had thought more of a

 

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category (Ranunculus_acris)

 

Which I believe is one of the two main families of Ranunculus, Which Repens belongs to, the other

 

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category (Ranunculus_ficaria)

 

The blossoms are more star like, and the petals are pointier.

 

Anyhow.....I tried to add to your rep..ens, but the server tells me I have to spread it around some more before I get back to you.:eek_big:

[Ganoderma]

most Latros have much longer legs than steatoda, which is the easiest give away after colour. In your area you also have a lot of Latrodectus hesperus, a very pretty widow, but a very toxic one. i used to breed some solid black forms of hesperus. but they are never that red/purple colour of your steatodas. they also seem to have far fewer babies around, or are less frequent to lay/breed.

[Guest chendoh]

 

 

Well Rac, it seems I have a relative of yours staying over.........

[Cedars]

Anyone know what kind of dragonfly this is? I looked thru the pics at this site:

Dragonflies and Damselflies (Odonata) of the United States

for minnesota and wisconsin, but they dont have this bad boy posted.

[freeztar]

What about a Four-Spotted Chaser?

Four-spotted Chaser - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Cedars]

What about a Four-Spotted Chaser?

Four-spotted Chaser - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

Outstanding!

 

That wiki post described the behavior of this guy very well.

 

Thanks again Freeztar!

[freeztar]

Glad to help! :artgallery:

I love this game.

 

next...

[freeztar]

Here one for you birders out there (Cedars?):

Unknown bird call

2MB download, AVI

 

This was captured back on April 9. I heard the same call for several days, but I have not heard it recently, so perhaps it/they moved on. The only birds I've seen in my yard that I can verify are robins (nesting in the front yard), bluejays, hawks (do not know which type as I can never get a clean view of them), woodpecker of some sort, and barn owl (did not see this, but I know the call).

 

Any help with this one?

 

EDIT: Sorry for the crappy quality, it was from my digital camera.

[Cedars]

Here one for you birders out there (Cedars?):

Unknown bird call

2MB download, AVI

 

This was captured back on April 9. I heard the same call for several days, but I have not heard it recently, so perhaps it/they moved on. The only birds I've seen in my yard that I can verify are robins (nesting in the front yard), bluejays, hawks (do not know which type as I can never get a clean view of them), woodpecker of some sort, and barn owl (did not see this, but I know the call).

 

Any help with this one?

 

EDIT: Sorry for the crappy quality, it was from my digital camera.

 

Is this close to what you were hearing? For these guys, there are variables on which tone they use. It can be all calls with the same tone, or two high two lower, one high two/three lower, etc...

 

http://www.uwgb.edu/birds/wbba/species/audios/WOODPECKER__RED_BELLIED.MP3

[freeztar]

That's it! The tone is definitely lower here, but woodpecker makes sense having seen them around my yard.

In fact, I heard the call today, just a few minutes ago, while BBQ'ing. I'm back out to the BBQ, but I'll keep my eye out for a woodpecker and try to snap a shot for extra confirmation. :evil: