Critters - Mostly Small and Smaller

I'll skip the ubiquitous ticks we pull off ourselves after every walk, and get right to the interesting stuff.

Tree Gnomes

When we returned from our recent road trip, one of our "tree gnomes" had sprouted a new look.

The "tear" falling from the gnome's left eye is a small hornet nest.

A side view showed it was far off the vertical. Fortunately, it appears that the hornets didn't like this location -- the nest was empty, and we removed it from the gnome's eye.

Opossum

It's relatively rare to see a 'possum during the day, but this one was out and about today.

The 'possum was strolling ('possums never move fast!) across a grassy area near our property gate. 'Possums are not particularly attractive animals! They look like they are a large rat, but they are marsupials (mammals with pouches to hold their young) and mostly live in trees.

On our return from the mailbox, the 'possum had moved about 50 feet to feast on garbage dragged by a bear onto our land from our neighbor's trash bins. Although this was the first sign of a bear this year, earlier today we thought we had heard a bear crashing through the woods.

Box Turtles

I think box turtles are much cuter than 'possums.

This female turtle was near our woodyard. I've documented her there twice before in 2013 and 2017.

This turtle was visiting our compost bins last June. As I mentioned in an older post, I've been documenting box turtles on our property since 2009. I'm almost up to 50 individuals.

It looks like the compost-bin turtle had also been eating blackberries!

And tooth marks on the carapace (shell) shows evidence that a predator (bear? coyote?) tried to eat it.

Snakes

It seems to me that we've seen more snakes this year than usual.

Last week, Dakota (our dog) stepped on this black rat snake laying across the trail, and the snake did not approve.

Today it was my turn to almost step on this copperhead. Fortunately, I saw it in time to prevent stepping on it, and the snake was watchful, but unperturbed.

A comparison of heads shows the difference between venomous and non-venomous snakes in our area. Venomous snakes (top photo) have triangular heads and vertical slits in their eyes, while non-venomous snakes (bottom photo) have very little, if any, constriction behind their jaws, and circular pupils in their eyes.