Relocating

Why are you waking me up...



...when it's so clearly time for sleeping?



Oh, ok.

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A green tree frog (Hyla cinerea) was napping in the crevice of a post that needed to be moved. He got moved too, but wasn't too happy about it.

It reminded me of the Green chair frog from a few years back.

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Submitted to the Friday Ark.

Peepers

Rain! We've finally been having some rain. Combined with overly warm weather, it brought out the Spring Peepers (Pseudacris crucifer).



The video is here if you can't see it. (Peepers wait until it's getting dark to start peeping.)

This is in the area we call the swamp. Really it's just a pond that was allowed to go wild. It's been completely dry until just recently.

Fire in the woods

British Soldiers (Cladonia cristatella), my favorite lichen.



Two very small salamanders. Either Southern Red-backed (Plethodon serratus), Southern Zigzag (Plethodon ventralis), or Webster’s (Plethodon websteri).

According to Salamanders in Alabama, they're "easily confused".



These tiny... things... were growing on a limb rotting on the ground. I can't even tell if they are a type of mushroom, slime mold, lichen, or what. Possibly an immature version of Peniophora rufa...?

The whole line there was about the width of a blade of grass. I could definitely use a macro lens. And of course that portable DNA analyzer that they are being so slow to invent.



An easy one, finally: Truckus plasticus.

And there's always this:

The muscovy duck who thinks he's my boyfriend.



He follows me into the woods, if I'm moving slowly enough.

I'll be hunkered down, minding my own business, trying to take a photo of something low to the ground, when I hear a coarse hissing from behind.

That's my cue to stand up fast, unless I'm in the mood to be nibbled, stabbed, and pinched by a duck.

I'm not sure how he carries bread crumbs, but he's always there waiting when we get back home.

Frog sounds

Sounds from the frog pond on the neighbor's property. (Sorry I don't know how to make just a sound file.)



There are at least three types of frogs and/or toads I think, but Bullfrog is the only one I'm sure of.

The picture I accidentally made with streetlights:



A red satellite passed before the big dipper, but the current camera was not good enough to capture that.

Gray Tractor Frog

We aren't the only ones who've been glad of the rain.

One thing I love about Gray Treefrogs (Hyla chrysoscelis or maybe Hyla versicolor) is how amenable they are to posing. I'm not sure if they're smart enough to know that we don't want to eat them, or if they're just very laid back.

Hubby took this picture over the weekend while I was elbow-deep in soap. I don't normally work on the weekends but I'd gotten a little behind, and it was raining all day anyway. (I can't seem to quit saying that.)

Recent visitors

Red phase American Toad, Bufo americanus, in the garden.


Please stay and eat some bugs.


A nice webpage that includes info on how to differentiate similar species by cranial ridge patterns.


Cool red dragonfly: Carolina Saddlebags, Tramea carolina. Thanks again Giff Beaton.


A turtle I haven't identified yet. But now I see why they call it a turtleneck.


She was in a hurry to get somewhere.


Unwelcome visitor. One of the neighbor's cows, again. Tremendous painintherearus.

What a wonderful bird the frog are

Hubby took a branch-trimming break to show me this cute little Gray Treefrog (Hyla versicolor) he'd found. They have got to be the most willing-to-pose frog species in existence. Just like the one from last year, he didn't budge the whole time I had the camera practically up his nose.



I included this poem in the previous post too, but I like it so much I'm using it again. Something about the Gray Treefrog just brings it out in me.

What a wonderful bird the frog are!
When he stand he sit almost;
When he hop he fly almost.
He ain't got no sense hardly;
He ain't got no tail hardly either.
When he sit, he sit on what he ain't got almost.

-Anonymous

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More crittery goodness at the Friday Ark.

Swamp

Jasmine loves to sink into the muck. She loves to scare the Great Blue Heron. Bonus points if he makes that crazy squawk.

The Green Herons head for the trees, but they don't complain as much. I think they're used to it.

What we call the "swamp" got awfully dry for a while this year. When it was down to one small puddle there were twelve little frog heads poking up out of it. After it finally rained again they sang and laughed.



Like the previous frog video, it's really just for the sound. You'll probably need to turn up your speakers to hear the frogs laughing... it sounds perfectly normal on my computer but when I upload it, the sound gets diminished somehow.

There are actually two types of frog/toad noises here (but I'm not sure you'll be able to hear the lower ones near the end). I'm having trouble identifying them, so let me know if you have any clues.

Frogs R Us

I almost stepped on this bullfrog.



She must have been up partying all night. After the photo session, I realized that Jasmine was much too interested in her. But she could not be budged with stick or shoe, and a scooping operation was well underway before she woke up enough to hop madly away for the ditch.

Previous bullfrog (Rana catesbeiana) entries:
Rana-gate
Minty Frog

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My sister emailed me to say that my blog came up #2 in her Google search for "Alabama Toads". I'm not at all an authority on that, but I can give good directions:
Frogwatch USA - links to info and good sound files
Frogs and Toads in Alabama

Some previous frog & toad encounters:
Tuesday - Gray Tree Frog
Green Chair Frog - Green Tree Frog
Night crawling - Fowler's Toad
Frogz - Southern Leopard Frog & Green Tree Frog
Happy Amphibians - Sound file - Fowler's Toads (I think)
Night chorus - Sound file - Spring Peepers

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I wonder if frogs and toads have regional "accents" like birds do.

Happy amphibians

My first try at a video blog. Actually it's just for the sound, but you get to see me moving the camera around slightly.



These are the voices of Fowler's Toads (Bufo fowleri). (I think. Click on the link and listen to see if you agree.) After our recent rains, the dry swamp has some water in it again, and all is right in the amphibian world.

List of more Alabama frogs and toads here.

Upload your videos to YouTube!

Please let me know if the video doesn't work for you.

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Updated: I had second thoughts on my ID. I believe they may be Fowler's Toads rather than Eastern Narrow-mouthed Toads.

Watched

Due to my recent good fortune, I've been working harder than normal.

So I was in the workshop, diligently working away...



... when suddenly I had the feeling that I was being watched.



The Blob?

The Thing?

Sinister alien invader cocoon?

Geez that window sure is dirty.

I need a better angle.



Awww.

Green Treefrog (Hyla cinerea).

Green chair frog

Have you ever heard of a dog who doesn't like to eat?

Jasmine has to be forced to eat, most days. Otherwise she'll sit and guard her food all day, protecting it from everything except ants. Then she won't want to eat it later either, because the ants bite her nose.

So now we have a game, in which she has to eat her food before a mean old stick gets it. One of us mans the stick, which constantly tries to sneak up and grab her food when she stops eating. She gets annoyed, snaps at the stick, and eats a little more.

Sometimes this game takes a while to finish, so I pull out a chair.

Guess what greeted me the last time I did that?


A green chair tree frog (Hyla cinerea).

I just love how he aligned himself with the green stripe, for camouflage!


His profile.

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For your weekly critter fix, visit the Friday Ark.

Night crawling

"Hey there's a cool frog, come and get a picture!"



Actually it turned out to be a toad, Fowler's Toad (Bufo fowleri).



More info is here.

Until I got inside and looked it up, I thought it was an American Toad. But they've only got one or two warts per dark spot, and this guy had up to five. I only got one shot of his back, and it wasn't a great one, but works for ID purposes.



After deciding he was a Fowler's Toad, I listened to a sound recording.

And realized that there must have been another one nearby - we'd heard him calling while photographing this one. Their sound has been described as a bleating sheep with a cold. (I'll bet it sounds lovely to other Fowler's Toads though.)

In other nighttime activities of the week, we saw Barn Owls in Cullman, at my in-laws'. I was surprised that they'd hang around in residential neighborhood for so long, but evidently they've been there a while.

I tried to get a picture, but my camera doesn't really "do" full dark, even with a flashlight assist.



See the owls? No? Me neither.

I did get a sound recording. Despite being able to glide and even flap their wings in total silence (the better to sneak up on mice), they were a pretty mouthy bunch. Their hissing and screeching was almost otherworldly. If you heard it coming from behind you in a barn at night, you'd have no trouble believing a ghost was hard on your tail.

If I can figure out how to post it here, I will.

Frogz

Southern Leopard Frog (Rana sphenocephala)

Hiding in the grass of a sunny bank, just as the field guide specified. The guide also says that this species is hunted for frog legs - but those would be some mighty small portions. I believe that bullfrogs would be the more commonly eaten species.


Green Treefrog (Hyla cinerea)

Climbing up the back shop wall at night. I wanted to verify for myself that they walked rather than hopped. This one wasn't budging though, except to make himself into as small a lump as possible.

Don't forget to go look at the Friday Ark!

Tuesday

Another early morning frog encounter!



This little Gray Treefrog (Hyla versicolor or possibly Hyla chrysoscelis), hiding in a crevice on the porch, was cold and not about to move.



After reading Swamp Things lately, I thought that's what he was, but wasn't sure.

So I pried him up to look underneath, to make sure he wasn't a Bird-voiced Treefrog (he was orange, so he wasn't). He didn't seem to mind much.



What a wonderful bird the frog are!
When he stand he sit almost;
When he hop he fly almost.
He ain't got no sense hardly;
He ain't got no tail hardly either.
When he sit, he sit on what he ain't got almost.

-Anonymous


Of local note:
We'll be at Springfest at Homestead Hollow in Springville Friday - Sunday, so come buy some handmade soap.

Also, the Golden Temple Natural Grocery in Birmingham (Five Points South location) is now carrying our soaps. I love it - they're such a Birmingham tradition.

Rana-gate

This morning, before dawn.

"Hurry, bring your camera!"



Bullfrog at the gate (Rana catesbeiana).



"I'm not stuck, I just like the view."

Minty frog

American bullfrog (Rana catesbeiana)

I had to look this one up, and was a little surprised that she turned out to be a bullfrog. Not enough meat on this one to bother with gigging for fried frog legs.

No, I don't do that, but my grandfather did. As a kid I thought that eating frog legs was a real treat.

This one is a female; on a male the tympanum (external eardrum) would be much larger than the eye.

I imagine that this gal has no problems with bad breath, living in the ditch amongst the mint.

Night chorus

For the past two days we've heard a symphony of frogs in the late afternoon and early evening. Down by the swamp the noise is almost deafening!

I don't have a separate microphone for the laptop, but I hoped that the built-in one could pick up the sound since it was so loud. I was disappointed in the quality but I guess you can't expect much without a real microphone.

Here's my short recording of the frogs.

I was able to find a nice page that features a few frog sounds, and learned that most of our singers are Spring Peepers (Pseudacris crucifer). Go there to hear a recording that's a lot better than mine.

We could hear (but couldn't record) at least two other frog species that we haven't identified yet. I think one might be the Southern Leopard Frog (Rana sphenocephala) but I'm not sure. We had those frogs at the water garden at our old house, and I thought I knew what they sounded like... but the recordings I checked seem a little different.

Edited to add:
As a result of them starting to sing earlier than anyone else the next evening, we were able to better isolate the sound, and identified the American Toad (Bufo americanus) as another one of our mystery amphibians.
(end of edit)

While we were down by the ponds appreciating the frog chorus last night, the Barred Owls (Strix varia) chimed in and made us smile even more.

This page has recordings of the owls' "courtship duet". In real life it often sounds like a courtship quartet (or more). The owls seem to work themselves into such a frenzy of calling that you'd swear you were in the deepest jungle.

It doesn't seem confined to just their courtship time either - you can sometimes hear groups of them cackling like maniacs during the summertime.

We heard Barred owls in the woods behind our old house in the suburbs too, so it's not just a rural thing.

Can't wait til spring!

Virginia Bluebells last spring

The other day I was having lunch with my mother in law in Cullman. (I was lucky enough to marry into a bunch of very nice in-laws.) We tried to go to the All Steak but after finding that every parking spot in the deck was taken, we figured it would probably be too crowded inside. All Steak has some great orange rolls that my mouth had been salivating for since I’d left home, so I really hated to miss them.

We went to the Cracker Barrel instead. Some people sneer at the Cracker Barrel. I guess because it’s a big chain and because it’s so commercial - you have to walk through their crowded gift shop before you can set foot in the restaurant.

In the winter I always feel like the kid Randy from the Christmas Story movie in there, all fluffy coat and “I can’t put my arms down.” I’m afraid that I’ll knock over something glass and expensive.

But they have a wonderful grilled chicken that’s worth running the gift shop gauntlet for, and on Fridays the extra veggie is brown rice, which is also wonderful.

My mother in law ran into several people she knew there. I think that happens a lot in Cullman. (I see it happen a lot in Oneonta too but so far I don't know enough people here for it to happen to me.)

One of my aunts-by-marriage stopped by our table to say hello too. She said what had been on my mind for several weeks already... "I can't wait til spring!"


Long-spurred violet

We are both wildflower nuts. I spent a really inordinate amount of time last spring combing the woods at our new place, looking to see what flowers we had. But I'm sure I missed some. I've got the fever to get out and find new things, and see the old favorites too. But it's still too early.

I heard the little frogs singing this week, and the red-winged blackbirds too, for the first time this year. I’d love to learn which frogs are singing which songs, but first we have to figure out how to actually see any of them. Sometimes I’d swear that they are all invisible frogs.


Invisible frog tadpoles

But last night it got down to about 23 degrees F, so the frogs aren’t singing this morning. (That’s -5 degrees C, for those of you in the regular, non-“I’m never gonna accept the metric system” world.)

So it's still too early. But I can't wait til spring!