Ringneck snake

A couple of nights ago, when I headed out the front door, I nearly stepped on a snake on the front walkway. I shone the flashlight on it and saw the ring round the neck, so scooped up the snake for a closer look. Sure enough it was a lovely little ringneck snake. These are pretty, gentle snakes, very silky to the touch, and and are quite clean, never stink. I love the bright yellow colouring on the underside. I took several pictures of this one as it slid through my fingers, then turned it loose into the foliage beside the front door so it could continue on doing what it had been doing before getting near-trampled by a tired clumsy human.

Promethea moth

About 3:00 a.m. this morning, when Tanka had to go out, I spied this moth at the windowsill of my cabin. It was cold, and I tickled it onto my finger and brought it inside for a closer look. It had a lot of spiderwebs stuck to it, I pulled those off gently with the use of a pair of tweezers. I set her in a dish where she stayed quietly til morning. I took her outside, set up the camera, tickled her onto the trunk of an old oak tree, and managed to get some pictures before she warmed up and took off into the trees.

Mantisfly

Sometimes I'm amazed what I find in our house. Today I was picking up my laundry basket, and right beside it on the wood box was a mantisfly. I ran and grabbed my bug catcher and put it into the aquarium, then set up a box with a screen to try to photograph it. It was not the most cooperative model, kept moving off the milkweed leaf I had set up for it, but I did manage to get a few shots. It's windy today, I'm hoping if things calm down and cool down after supper, I'll take it outside and see if I can get a few shots before it flies away. I was happy to find this rarely seen insect, it's only the second one I've ever found.