Exotics!

This page presents some of the more interesting and exotic critters that my camera and I have encountered.

The first item in the exotics collection is not something that I stole from another site, or created with Photoshop. Nope, these two friendly grasshoppers where caught in the act while I was visiting Mason, Ohio in September 2000. (More details can be found in Cow Report #6.)

Right up front, let me state for the record that I did not pull the leg off the Cottonwood Borer that you see below:

No, this poor crippled critter was already missing its appendage when it was spotted on the outside of one of our office windows. An AA battery is shown beside the bug for size comparison.

A few miles north-west of downtown Tulsa lies Stuart Park. More of a botanical garden, I try to visit Stuart Park every weekend when the weather permits. The park never seems to be crowded; it has two ponds (the larger stocked with fish and turtles) and plenty of walking trails. I find the park can be a very pleasant, relaxing place to spend some time.

One weekend I was walking back from a remote corner of the park when I spotted Mr. Frog:

As frogs go, this one isn't particularly exotic, I suppose. But the frog was just sitting on the path, completely still. It didn't seem very concerned as I approached; the frog even remained still as I laid down on the path to get a ground-level view.

After taking a couple of photos, I glanced away from the frog to change a couple of camera settings. When I looked back, the frog was gone! I was kind of puzzled until I looked around and found Mr. Snake:

I guess the frog had sensed the presence of the snake somewhere in the grass and brush by the side of the path. I'm assuming the frog was remaining motionless in the hopes that the snake would ignore something that wasn't moving. My appearance on the scene might have screwed up the frog's plans, though. You'll notice that the snake doesn't have any suspicious lumps, so I'm assuming that the frog escaped while the snake made its way onto the path. I tried to approach the snake to get a better close-up, but it wasn't as bold as the frog. As I approached, the snake slithered off the path, literally becoming a snake in the grass!