Kiwano Librarian

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[kiwano]

I have a storker.

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10th clutch of green frog eggs in my pond! #humblebrag #notactuallyhumblejustbragging

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Green frogs: newly-laid egg and newly-hatched tadpole. July 26, 2016.

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Green frog (Lithobates clamitans) eggs laid July 14/15 and July 16/17. Four layings in 10 days! This photo shows eggs from the 3rd set (opaque, below surface) and 4th (transparent, on surface). Leroy Township, Ohio.

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A very young Fowler’s toad, about 1 cm long. June 30, 2016 in Leroy Township, Ohio.

I only realized this week that I have Fowler’s toads in my area, in addition to American toads. (I saw an adult but didn’t get a photo.) It can be hard to distinguish between the two species, and they also hybridize.

This young toad has two characteristics of Fowler’s: back spots with 3 warts, and an unspotted belly; it’s too small for me to see if the parotoid gland touches the cranial ridge.

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Eastern gray tree frog. Lake County, Ohio. Sept. 18, 2015.

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A breeding male Eastern newt (aka red-spotted newt). April 18, 2016.

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Two green frogs (Rana clamitans) in a mating embrace (amplexus) in the midst of newly-laid eggs. The male continues to call, as do other males in the background.

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A case of interspecific amplexus between a male Rana clamitans and female Rana catesbeiana. In other words, a mating embrace between two different species of frogs: a male Northern green frog and a female American bullfrog.

This particular bullfrog discovered my pond this summer, and multiple male green frogs have attempted to mate with her ever since. This was the first time I saw a pair out of the water.

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A Common Whitetail dragonfly, oviposting (laying eggs) in my pond.

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A tiny American toad metamorph, fresh from the pond.

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A cloud of active toadpoles.

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A group of toadpoles at the inlet to my wildlife pond. They stayed away from the pond’s outlet and survived the recent rainstorms.

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Mexican free-tailed bats at the Congress Avenue Bridge in Austin, Texas. 15 May 2015. Learn more at http://www.batcon.org/index.php/our-work/regions/usa-canada/protect-mega-populations/cab-intro . 

These are (low-quality) stills from videos I shot. When other observers used a flash, the bats became momentarily visible in the frame.

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Squabbling squirrels: “my side, your side, my side, your side.”

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During our recent rainstorms, the American toad tadpoles in my pond were smart enough to stay away from the water outlet. Now a number of them have massed at the inlet. I spotted a few goldfish fry, too.