Monday, September 28, 2009

When critters attack!

A few weeks ago, with some spare time on my hands, I received a facebook-type poke from Mother Nature (or so I imagined). It was a gorgeous weekend and I decided I needed to do something earthy… nature-y…communing with the great outdoors…type of activity, as my proverbial “poke back.” Thus emerged “Critter Hunt 2009.”

Critter Hunt 2009 began when I saw the most amazing (and vaguely terrifying) preying mantis chilling outside of my front door. He/she (who knows??) rather politely posed for me after I ran into get my camera, and the result was pretty spectacular! Smugly, I figured that my point and click camera skills were right up there with National Geographic. (As a footnote, the Wikipedia preying mantis article is both fascinating and disturbing reading! Apparently they can eat small rodents and practice sexual cannibalism ((?!!!))).















Following my preying mantis sighting, I had another critter run-in a few days later. This time it was an ENORMOUS mosquito that had flown in to bask in our AC, and I decided to snap another picture. (Which I figure was good, because the remains of that mosquito are now attached to my roommate’s church hymn book.)




















Now that I had two random critter photos, I figured I might as well keep going. Over the weekend I decided to find animals around town and document them into an album—critter hunt 2009. In my optimistic mind I expected a fair number of adorable critters—merry squirrels, frolicking deer, hopping bunnies? In reality, I realized there are just waaaaay more strange and gross insects than I really wanted to know were occupying the same space as me. I also realized my photography skills don’t extend to being able to capture tiny insect in focus. Guess National Geographic will not, after all, be knocking at my door.
















I learned that some insects clump together for maximum grossness potential.

















Williamsburg = Spiders Galore!! This is just one of many varieties I encountered. (And, of course, the only one that showed up in focus)















Finally a fuzzy critter!! Deer in the distance!
















Complete FAIL attempt to capture what I thought were swans, but then realized were probably just geese. As gracefully as a fake swan, I stumbled down the hill in the woods to get this stunning picture of a far away white blob.
















Grocery store critters. Very sad.



Epilogue:
Since Critter Hunt ’09, I’ve been bitten by 20 mosquitoes and was greeted by a snake when I stepped out of my car. I’m not sure, but I think the critters mistook my intentions. Maybe I should have considered a description other than “hunt”? In any case, mother nature and I are no longer facebook friends.