Wildlife

I encountered this bit of local fauna almost a year ago (late April, 2011). It's a sand viper. They are poisonous but not necessarily deadly. The birds got to this one and he was nearly dead by the time I crossed paths with him. They pecked his head with such accuracy that his skull was staved in and locking his lower jaw in place.

Sand viper. Grass for scale?

Close up view of his mangled head. The red streaks to the left are his blood. The birds, probably the Indian mynahs, clearly put a smackdown on this guy, who shouldn't have been out after sunrise anyway.

And I found this treasure right outside my patio gate just the other morning around 4:30 a.m. I've been told that these creatures are everywhere in the housing areas, and you might recall Harry's close encounter with one, but this is the first time I've spotted one so close to home.

The spot in the concrete at about 9 o'clock is the diameter of a dime. This guy is fairly hefty!

It's a wind scorpion, also known as a camel spider. You can count the legs and tell right away that it isn't a true spider, but it is clearly related! I completely addled it by taking these photos because its eye spots are on top of its head. It rambled around a bit, fell off a step into the grass, then hunkered down to recover.

Of course a post on wildlife wouldn't be complete without a couple of pictures of the dogs.

Harry is amazingly tolerant of the pesty puppy as long as she is calm. She's been doing some growing, but he still outweighs her! She's still nothing much but leg.

A sea of dog beds and blankets, perfect for a pack of sleepy dogs.