2008/09/06

Neighborhood creatures

I think the hot summer is finally winding down in Tokyo.
Mornings and evenings are getting cooler, but we still do have some hot days.

Today, I am positng pictures of creatures that I can see in my neighborhood.

Below two photos are of cicada. The first one is "Graptopsaltria nigrofuscata" and the one below is "Meimuna opalifera". These buggers are actually very loud, but when look for them, they are difficult to spot, especially the ones with clear wings. I think "Graptopsaltria nigrofuscata" is the most common of what we have in Japan and they do come out every summer.


This is a picture of a discarded skin of a cicada. This one is "Graptopsaltria nigrofuscata". I believe they stay in this form and live underground for something like 7 years. And after they morph into the grown form, they have only a week to live.

Spiders - the little one (male) may be trying to mate with the much bigger female - risking it's life!

A snail - this one has blue skin - I think it is rare.

We have too many of these crows.

I could capture this little gecko on the wall of our neighbor's house. He was checking me out.