Showing posts with label herps. Show all posts
Showing posts with label herps. Show all posts

Friday, April 18, 2014

Photo Quiz Phriday Answer, Genius Steepers & NEW Photo Quiz...

Photo Quiz Phriday Answer

So many great guesses re: WHAT the heck I was doing here:

I was NOT weighing a stool-for-tiny-people (it's actually a pitfall trap lid/shade).

I was weighing a lizard, which was in a little plastic bag,
which SPINS AROUND in the breeze when held by a Pesola spring scale
'cause lizards weigh ALMOST NOTHING.

SO, I was holding the lid to block the wind so I could weigh that pup accurately.

POWER NERDERY!! =)

This was all part of the reptile & amphibian inventory,
as designed & implemented by the fabulous Dr. Robert Fisher & all his peeps, at USGS.
Such a great group, the USGS Western Ecological Research Center's San Diego Field Station.
The TINY Cabrillo NM was super lucky to be able to team up w/them.

Behind me is 1 arm of a 3-armed Fisher trapping array.


Genius Steepers

I know this may sound lame, but ALL THE GUESSES WIN!!
They were SO fun & funny &/or accurate.

STEEPERS IN THEIR OWN GENIUS
(w/hyperlinks to their blogs, if they have one)

John Beetham for:
"It looks like you're weighing a stool."

(bb: I 100% look like I'm weighing a stool + bonus points for unintentional wildlife doo-doo pun)

Imperfect and Tense for:
"Are you wondering who has stolen the majority of your vehicle,
as you've been left holding just the steering wheel and column shift?"

(bb: Great imagination & more likely than you might imagine
+ bonus points for British English vocab lesson)

Cindy for:
"You are weighing a land mine (craftily disguised as stool by Navy wonks) to see if it is still active
before you start stomping through the coastal scrub looking for orange-throated whiptail.

(bb: She clearly is READING MY SOUL as this is SO close to what my life was like back then--
working in a Navy bunker & crawling through the CSS* looking for Cnemis**)


sclancy for:
"Calibrating your portable sundial"

(bb: SUPER imaginative + I-wish-I'd-thought-of-that-then)

"hmm, can't be weighing 'cos you're holding it with your other hand.
Reading something off a gauge? Temperature?"

(bb: She's SO close, I AM weighing it, AND the scale is a gauge.)

Thanks everyone!! You cannot know how much your answers amuse & impress me. =)


NEW PHRIDAY PHOTO QUIZ

This one is SUPER HARD, if you're going for accurate,
but could be fun if you're going for creative.
This pup was sticking out of an old stump by the garden.



It's about 2 cm tall.
I had to ask around 'cause I had NO idea.
But, now I know, and I'm psyched about it.

The reward for inspired/accurate guesses is

MARINATING in the MAGNIFICENCE of your own MIND.

xoxoxobb


*CSS = coastal sage scrub
**Cnemis = verbal shorthand for Cnemidophorus hyperythrus, a.k.a. orange-throated whiptail lizard, NOW called Aspidoscelis hyperythra, so says the EVER FABULOUS & useful CaliforniaHerps.com.







Saturday, September 7, 2013

I can't resist bugs (+ herps + quiz answer & winners + bb gets a name)


It is not my GOAL to constantly take and share photos of bugs.

crab spider on zinnia

Esp. bugs on flowers.



crab spider crop

tiny flight toward cleome

But, it just keeps happening...

tidy flyer


a  honey of a tummy

another TINY crab spider, on cleome bud

itty-bitty crab spider Eric Eaton (@bugeric) ID'd for me


bee dip

 Of course, there are other things in the garden that I like...


and wandering around the property,


morning, noon, and night...


but, I keep coming back to the bugs.

Guess we'll all just have to suffer.


[By the way: if you wanna see photos sooner or more frequently, you could follow me on twitter @biobabbler,  or if you want photos & less blather, check out my tumblr account xoxo]


****************

Quiz Winners!!!

Sue and Diana Studer NAILED it.
You two have my never ending respect. =)

WOO-HOO!!!

The word was: haconechloa.

Pronounced hawk-in-uh-cloh-uh,
rhymes with walk in the snow, duh.

It's a deciduous perennial grass used in gardening/landscaping, native to Japan.

Photo by and (c)2006 Derek Ramsey. Location credit to the Chanticleer Garden.
Obtained via Wikipedia.

I'd heard it listening to the Good Enough Gardening podcast.
I listen to them over & over;
they keep me company as I putter in the garden
or do chores in the house.

Apparently, that word got in, and required explanation.


So, enough about the GENIUSES who got it right:
now, for the GENIUSES who guessed wildly.

I'd HEARTILY encourage you to read the
MYRIAD, super entertaining guesses you creative people came up with.

*happy sigh*

Love when y'all go there. =) You rock.


Thanks EVERYONE for participating
and just generally being your cool selves.

xoxobb



p.s. Navel Gazing: I now call myself Samantha Biobabbler on twitter, 'cause why not have SOME real name, right? I'm not really anonymous for any particular reason, so, there ya go.