From spiders to bunnies, our world is teeming with fancy animals – May, 2020
TWO KINDS OF FROGS
You’ve got your leopard frog and your bullfrog. Our little pond off the front porch is a breeding ground for frogs.
KING OF THE DITCH
A very large bullfrog is the lord of his domain beside the Moncure Pittsboro road.
PAIRING UP
Breeding season is upon us.
EGGS
The pond becomes a sea of frog’s eggs. By mid-June, the big frogs moved on, leaving tadpoles behind to dine on mosquito larvae and turn into tiny frogs who will eventually repeat the cycle.
TORTOISE AND HARE
We’ve got both.
SCAVENGERS AND PREDATORS
A pair of black vultures have a conversation on the driveway across the street. Bob turns in his back porch chair to find, behind his head, a spider intercepting an ant.
BLUEBIRDS
This cycle of life begins with courtship, which leads to a nest, then eggs, furious feeding, and fledglings.
THE HUNT
Both parents work all day to source protein for their babies.
The female sits on the wire above the road before flying into the nest with her worm.
GOTCHA!
After an interminable courtship, rife with pursuit, posturing, and dewlap displays, our male antagonist caught himself a female on the post beside the hummingbird feeder.
And he made sure to hang on until all was said and done.
RUBY THROATED
With our new camera we are able to catch the hummers in flight.
Proof they do occasionally extend landing gear.