amphibians
-
Herps
We were hoping this Northern Watersnake would keep coming, passing under the boat launch dock we were standing on.But this Nerodia sipedon wasn’t playing. Instead it took shelter in these rocks, amid crabs, oysters, and periwinkles, peeping out occasionally to see if we were still there. Can you spot it?Here’s what we thought was a…
-
Red-Spotted Newts
The Eastern Red-spotted Newt. A.K.A. Eastern Newt. Notophthalmus viridescens. This is the aquatic adult stage. When they’re younger, they have a terrestrial stage. On land, the “red efts” are startlingly orange-red colored, walking “don’t eat me!” signs (being toxic to most predators). These spotted newts can live more than a dozen years. This seems to…
-
Wood Frogs
A year ago on April 1st, 2018, we heard Wood Frogs and saw their spawn floating here. It takes about a week for their eggs to rise up from below, where they’re laid. This year, on March 30th, we heard the frogs and saw them both mating and egg-laying for the first time. Male Wood…
-
More Spring
Red maple flowers. Eastern Phoebe.These are wind pollinated trees, so early spring emergence isn’t predicated on insects.An early arriving migrant, this bird is dependent on insects.Speaking of which, beetles and flies are emerging.A millipede in a leafy liverwort. Interesting similarity of shape…And here’s a frog-sex teaser. There’s some amplexus in the water…
-
Wetlands
An early morning in September, still warm and humid but not oppressively so. The wetland is rather quiet, though above me a couple squirrels gnaw away at hickories.I am delighted to see a spreadwing, the first I’ve seen in the Bronx. Slender Spreadwing, Lestes rectangularis, I think. He has caught a fly and is eating…
-
Frog Songs
There were several species of frogs sounding off during the middle of the day yesterday at Great Swamp NWR. It was a… chorus… of several species. Lots of sounds I’ve never heard before. This one was the only amphibian actually seen out of the water; I’ve yet to find one of the peepers or chorus…
-
Bufo bufo
The Common Toad of Europe, I think. Vanlig padda in Sweden, where we found these two on a path near lake Krankesjön. Sweden has 13 species of amphibians (including two vattensalamander) and six species of reptiles.Being in the land o’ Linnaeus, we kept coming across the doubled binomial: Porzana porzana, Buteo buteo, Anser anser, Ciconia…
-
Massing Toads
Can you see it?Everywhere, underfoot, tiny. We were in Beaverdam Park in Gloucester Co., VA, last week. It was fiendishly humid. We kept running into these very small toads that scurried more than jumped. At first I thought the movement was some kind of beetle. But no, they were toads. Upon further research, they turned…
-
Toad O’clock
American Toad (Anaxyrus americanus) spotted by an eagle-eyed five-year-old on her family’s Westchester Co. property. This was just after we had all run into two other amphibians by the side of the house:Look how this one blends in.A Wood Frog (Lithobates sylvaticus). Less than a foot away from the even smaller but more colorful:Itty-bitty Northern…
-
Frog Saturation
A single frog can lay 20,000 eggs.The low murk of the Dell Water was full of hundreds, if not thousands, of frogs on a recent visit.Boy, are they jumpy! They know you’re coming before you know they’re there. Until you can’t ignore all the plops taking to the water. It was a little H.P. Lovecraftian,…
Backyard and Beyond 