In honor of the day here’s a critter whose name is Halloween.
Red land crabs, also called harlequin or Halloween crabs (Gecarcinus quadratus), are nocturnal burrowing crabs that live on the Pacific coast from Mexico to Peru. They spend their lives in sand dunes, moist forest or mangroves but they need the ocean to reproduce so they don’t stray far from shore.
From above these crabs look black and orange. They’re even more colorful from the side.
Trick or Treat!
(photo from Wikimedia Commons. Click on the image to see the original)
p.s. As Hurricane Sandy approached Pittsburgh on Monday many municipalities rescheduled Trick-or-Treat to Saturday Nov 3, so there will be no costumed kids at our door tonight. Kind of odd considering everything in Pittsburgh is just fine. Not so in New York City where our nephew reports he was not flooded but has no electricity.
This is as pretty as the male Painted Bunting…amazing all the colors work together..
We had some snow last night and last check with the rain/snow/sleet was at least 5 inches and still coming down..but it’s bringing the birds into the yard and deck…feeders are full…