Somehow they manage to hang on, pun intended.
The good news is there have not been any large webs built over the trails for some time. However, you can’t relax just yet.
The sides of trails have plenty of these big guys lurking.
I am not a fan of large spiders !
Poking around looking for ‘stuff’. Using a new camera body (OM-1 mk2) and manually added all the custom functions I use on the original body. I did find a function I missed, nothing major.
I have noticed a large number of newly hatched Tree Frogs in the marshes lately. The critter below was older and good to focus on. The really small ones are much harder.
It turns out that out back of the main house at Magnolia Plantation is a great place to find the small locals.
On an early morning before there was any activity I found these as I walked past the back stairs.
First I spotted an Anole on a window. No poking in bushes required.
Now this did require a little work to lean out over some plants. A large Tree Frog was settling in for the day on one of the old tall house columns. There may have been two but leaning over any further I was going down in a heap.
In the plants besides the stairs a few more lizards had taken up residence.
There are a few fun shots from a morning walk.
Magnolia Plantation, Charleston, South Carolina.
Encroaching on Ellen’s territory 😂😂.
A subject I rarely photograph, especially once my neck was replaced with a series of Legos. However when poking around for little critters you can’t help but come face to face with these.
Because of our environment there are places you actually have so many they ruin focus, or worse completely get in the way. Large marshes have trillions, and the critters that eat them. When I get the right opportunity, I give it a try.
This dragonfly was perched on a large plant along side a main plantation house.
These small lizards are also called the American Chameleon because they do change colors. Well, they can slowly change between green and brown.
The males can grow to be 8 inches. Like an Alligator half the length is their tail.
I found these little guys in the plants around the entrance to Magnolia Plantation.
Anoles are native to the US Southeast, but they have spread further south, even out to the Caribbean.
I struggled for a title here. The background finally gave me something. It’s the old painted stucco of the main house foundation in Magnolia Plantation.
Before the gates open for visitors we were wandering around poking in the bushes and plants. A few other local photographers were doing the same.
Once it was time to open we moved off in different directions. I think we all thought the same thing, it would look pretty weird 😁😁.
Ellen spotted this small Tree Frog right out back of the house. No need for a walk around a swamp or marsh.
Now that I’ve officially made the change over to OM System gear a second body was needed. Nothing could be worse than traveling, the necessary expense, time, etc. only to have a camera body go bad. We have always kept a second body for that reason. I wanted a few quick shots to be sure the newer file format for images would be OK. The OM-1 mk2 is an updated version of the original, but you never know and of course I read conflicting reviews. All worked fine.
Back to the little critter here.
He was hiding up against some bamboo, surrounded by large (??) plant leaves.
Not one of the smallest around but that’s good, he has had enough time to get some different shading and the lines along his body.
Part of our local free entertainment. Better than the talking heads on TV.
Yes it’s a big leaf, but not huge by swamp standards. The frog, tiny by any standards.
Photographing the little guys is contagious. Ellen always looks for them and after seeing what she finds I’m a fan.
Whether it’s the heat, excessive rains, something has trigger a new crop of ‘all things small’.
Found on the edge of a swamp where tall plants cover a wetland. Seems to be a good neighborhood.
