Praying Mantis

I was doing some clean-up at my garden and found this very friendly Praying Mantis. While the Praying Mantis may look fearsome, you only need to worry if you're an insect, they provide plant pest control. Praying Mantises make great pets, but their lifespan is only about a year.

Broken Antler

It's almost time for the bucks to shed the velvet covering on this year's new antlers. On this evening's wildlife drive I found this young buck with a broken antler tip that was just hanging by the velvet. It wasn't time for this buck to shed his velvet since it still contained blood used for antler development.

Stinky Squid Mushroom

The plan for today was remove some dead ash trees from a field, but Mother Nature threw a distraction at me. The distraction was this strange looking orange mushroom. I noticed a foul-smelling odor and flies landing on the mushroom.

This mushroom is Pseudocolus fusiformis, commonly known as the Stinky Squid mushroom, a member of the Stinkhorn family. The smell attracts insects, primarily flies, which disperse spores after visiting the fungus.

West Hill Coyote

Pulled the game camera cards at the West Hill property and got some photos of coyotes in the daytime. The coyotes don't travel much during the daylight hours, so it's hard to get a good photo.