Monday goodies: Happy Halloween!

I've been on the road all day, and thus away from my main computer files, but it's Monday AND Halloween, so you know I'm totally going to cheat with archive photos post something good anyway!

Five creepy-fun photos, and why I love them

Bark scorpion stinger


The business end. Doesn't it look wicked? The only thing that would make it better would be the scorpion bokeh-ed in the background, but try as I might, I couldn't contort myself to get that shot. I was still disappointed the next day. My husband finds my aspirations rather strange, but there you go.


Black widow


My favorite because, duh, it's a black widow. Also, this one actually elicited a jump from me, for all of you who think I'm a spider-loving freak. (You can totally go on thinking that; I take it as a compliment.) It was almost completely dark outside. I used the flash-focusing light to sort of see where she was. I had to get really close, if I wanted a halfway decent macro. I bobbed in and out, and snapped, and then, she was gone. Well, not gone, really, because she'd only gone out of the field because she was running toward my face. Spiders. They keep you on your toes.


Black widow babies


Because, awww! Babies! No? Come on!

Also, because it makes my husband squirm. I'd just gotten through telling him how I'd checked the whole garage, and there wasn't a single black widow in there now. So in a way, I was right. Not a single black widow.


Black-crowned night heron


Maybe it doesn't look scary to you, but seconds after taking the shot, my ears nearly bled with a KRAWWWAAK, my heart jumped into my throat, and the heron flew away in a satisfied huff. It's the size of a football with a head, but it got me, anyway.


Labyrinth orbweaver


OK, back to actual image critique. I love the black background, the spider entering the frame, the web. I love it all. It's extra cool, too, because this was a total "throwaway" shot. I'm pretty sure I was just messing around with camera settings. This is the most common spider around here, more common maybe even than our black widows. They weave webs in our tree branches, swingset, grill, everywhere. They're not that exciting.

Only, maybe they are. This one looks downright sinister. Perfect for Halloween.

Oooh, also! I'm going to give NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month, for the uninitiated) a try this month. A post every day. I know I have things going on, and that's seriously the reason behind the "Species a Day" pause, but, well, there are always things going on. Expect posts anyway. I'm starting to like this.

Any ideas/requests for the month? Expect many Species, the Monday/Friday regulars, and possibly the posts I promised earlier chronicling my son's clownphobia and the time I forgot to wear pants.

Happy Monday, all. And Happy Halloween!