Lizards, snakes, toads, frogs, turtles and other reptiles & amphibians

I searched for another thread in which to put this one, but gave up and started this. Taken with the E-M5 and the 70-300mm 4/3 Zuiko. I'm getting more keepers at marginal shutter speeds due to the IBIS of the E-M5. I'm happy, even if our little friend, below, seems a bit less so. Their perpetually disdainful look amuses me.

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iveobjective/]reed_flickr (Creative Objective Photography)[/url], on Flickr

Lumix DMC-GF1, Lumix 14-140 f4-5.8 at 140mm

Reed
My Lumix Blog: DMC-365.blogspot.com[/QUOTE]

Hope you weren't too close. I took the tarp off my generator one day and there was a little prairie rattler curled up on it. We took off in opposite directions!

 

Ned: the second to the last shot makes me laugh. What a wonderfully goofy expression!

 

I looked before I started this; though I won't claim my computer search skills are professional, I usually do OK. I need to get down to my favorite turtle spot near the Rio Grande with my E-M5, and I'll be putting some pictures on this thread eventually, so I'll keep it going for a while. I guess reptiles just aren't very cuddly looking, although I'm absolutely fanatical in my love of turtles, and the lizards running around (or basking) all summer are a constant source of amusement. Look at Ned's lizard pictures above; how can you not be drawn to a face like that!?

In the meantime, here's a young bull snake I found curled up under the tire of my car one day last October. I hope he made it to a cozy nest for the winter. Living in the mountains here in New Mexico, I was once plagued with pack rats -- that even ate my spark plug wires! So I grew very fond of bull snakes, with their reputation as voracious eaters of rodents.

(Taken with a vintage 1949 Hektor and my trusty E-P2)

 

Hanging out on the porch

Shot with E-M5 and the ZD 70-300 @ 300mm iso 800

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Oldracer: Love the first shot. He looks almost made of stone. Amazing!

 

Nueces Snapper: OK, I know phones can take pictures, but I was still expecting to see a bull snake WITH --- an iPhone. I don't know what I thought he'd be doing with it, but I did look for a phone. Maybe it's a generational thing.

Nice shot, beautiful shapes the way he's curled. And I grew fond of bull snakes when the pack rats they like to eat nibbled through my spark plug wires and started to build a nest in my car engine over a long weekend when I lived out in the country.

 

Bravo JudyM: I adore turtles. My house is filled with way too many turtle things, small statures mostly. Turtles make me smile. And their apparent patience is a great lesson to my constant and lifelong impatience. Thank you.

 

A toad is perfect. And a perfect toad it is. I lived my first 40 years in Massachusetts with no lizard (except salamanders) which may be why I find them so irresistible now.

Thanks for the back home toad.