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Friday, April 03, 2009

Friday Shoot out - ‘wild’ animals in my own back yard

I have a home in both Rio de Janeiro and in Nova Friburgo so I had double the options for how I might go about this week's ‘wild’ animals in my back yard;  how they have adapted to man or not.   As you can imagine the ‘wild animal’ in Rio is man and from what I hear they have not adapting well.  Last week there was, once again, gun battles between the ‘drug lords’ of two different favelas / slums that are growing too large and encroaching each on the other’s turf, and the police who try to confine the battle to the individual slum areas.   Last week the three-way gun fight(s) took out some drug runners, some police and as usual some innocents.  This was not my choice of topic.
 
It is surprising that I don’t really have ‘wild’ animals in my back yard. My yard in Nova Friburgo (Mury – Condominium Stucky) is right on the edge of a forest reserve. Of course, here that has a different meaning than it might in the USA – The view from our veranda shows the forest reserve dotted with farming & grazing areas, a large graded spot with a soccer field, and very large areas planted with eucalyptus trees. (& cars, motorcycles, barking dogs)   In this blog I talk often of Birds in Brasil because the this what I see the most. I hear monkeys, at least I think they are monkeys.   I never see them but from time to time I do see an awesome bug / spider / insect / moth / butterfly and if I’m lucky have my camera handy and before they disappear, I get a shot that is not too blurry.
 
Ants hard at work carrying flower petals 10 times their size – these guys showed up again about 20 minutes of my climbing up a hill – they were still going higher – I was done.
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Fuzzy green misc. caterpillar on the driveway a three inch beetle - (I use beetle loosely - I am not a scientist) but I know 3 inches when I see it. His ancestors were in my geology book with the other first life…..
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this little guy (or his descendants) live under the hand rail of the veranda – I see him several times a year
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after lunch visitor in the dinning room – I think he can it jumps - ? – so I stayed back a bit….
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Moved like a snail – looked like a caterpillar – outside the kitchen door
DSC_1709 this guy had about a 5 inch wing span – that is a 6" tile he is on

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wasp or hornet nest? or other beast of the forest. [SEE comments - LovelyDharma ID this for us.]
on the story of animal adapting to man’s environment these all win – I am not a chicken but I leave them alone to do their thing – they’ve been successfully around millions of years and man only 10,000 or so and loosing.

 

 

 

 

This area's most dominant ‘wild’ animal are the stray dogs. We pretty much just let them be – and the local shop owners put out food and water for the ones that show up on their doorstep – Vida Boa (the good life)


and there are other random beasts – slightly different domestication levels are involved but the photos were fun! See if you can find the little lizard.

10 comments:

  1. Oh geeze. As pretty as Rio is... I just couldn't handle the stress of shoot outs.

    That fuzzy yellow catapillar guy is venomous. He'll make your hand swell up.

    And the nest - I"m pretty sure that's not a hornet or wasp but the wonderful amazing João de Barro! An oven bird! They're so cool. The even put a little wall behind the door to block out the wind.

    (I translated a book on flora and fauna of Brazil, so I have all of these naturalist details still in my head.)

    Oh, I thought I had posted a comment, but maybe it got stuck in cyber space.... The tree with the big orange flowers in the earlier post is a Sol de Bolivia. Apparently very auspicious trees to have around. The locals here think they bring luck!

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  2. Some amazing shots here! I didn't know insects could look so beautiful!

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  3. oh thank you for the information. I have two vol. set on trees in Brazil - but found after paying a FORTUNE - that not all the photos are good enough to help with ID of the trees. what book did you translate?
    I found once two comments in my gmail account that should have been on your blog???? we are linked in some way - and that is wonderful but confusng.

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  4. You've outdone yourself here my friend. MY vote for photo of the week goes to you for that stunning, breathtaking, beautiful Moth!! The detail and vividness of color is one of the best I've ever seen....bar none. You should be shooting for one of those fancy books or magazines GingerV.
    Don't blame you about keeping your distance from the hornet thingy.

    I think the subject you've chosen for next week's topic is going to be the best yet and I mentioned it at the bottom of my today's post.
    Have a gread day and a weekend filled with love, joy and laughter.
    Hug Camillo for me while he listens to Opera and smokes his pipe.

    Steady On
    Reggie Girl

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  5. Barry they are beautiful arn't they - but often quite dangerous - see comment from lovely dharma

    also go to http://bosque-santa.blogspot.com/ for more Brasilian bugs etc. there are often comments by
    http://beetlesinthebush.wordpress.com/ that names them - interesting blogs.

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  6. I like the little insect theme. That little white bug is so cute.

    Well, they are certainly wild! You can start your own bug TV show.

    I always look forward to seeing how everyone will interpret and present the weekly shoot out assignments. Who would have thought we would get to see some Brazilian bugs while blogging?

    Excellent post!

    I also like the extras that you added, especially that bird looking in the window.

    Oh. What is our assignment for next week? Reggie Girl said it was out but I have so busy this week I guess I missed it.

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  7. Hi there!

    I like all the shots, the subjects are so beautiful! Those ants are more hardworking than humans, it's funny how they're carrying 'food' bigger than them!

    That beetle made me shiver!

    That insect with a white body is intriguing!

    PS., Can you elaborate more on the next Town Shootout? Just leave the answer on my blog, LOL!

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  8. Hey, no fair, you have summer! Great pictures.

    Our bugs have not come out yet. Really enjoy the critters in my garden - until they eat everything up. In a little bit, I will try some pictures of japanese beetles on my grapes and cabbage moths on my broccoli.

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  9. Nice shots of your wild insects. It's cute to see the ants carrying the petals of a flower. I did post my photo shootout but it's wild birds hehehe

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  10. I like the snail/caterpillar that looks like a smile!

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