I found this frog under a brush pile when I was out playing in the rain. Does anyone know if this is a tree frog? It's very small and fast, with a black stripe crossing over both eyes and a white line at the lips. It's legs are striped but it's body really is not (it's vaguely spotted).
Totally cute.
xoxoxo
....and jammed on the brakes of my Jimmy GMC to pick it up. I jumped out the truck and ran backwards to the turtle, grabbed it, then ran back to my truck and put it in a box to bring back to my pond at the Luck Cabin. Safe and far away from any busy roads!
I hadn't seen any box turtles at my pond yet (only two snapping turtles just this week) - and had been wishing for some turtles to come hang around. :)
I waited behind some tall ferns for Lil' Boxy to pop out it's head and check out the cool place it now could live.... I sensed a look of approval and appraisal.
A whole pond to itself to start a family! Yay!
XOXoxox
um, what the hec? I have tadpoles in my pond that are bigger then most frogs!?!! This big honkin' tadpole pictured above is at least 4-5 inches long, and let's just say it's head is huge/wide. And I have seen others like this so big I thought they were funny tailed fish.
xoxox
It's cool when nature let's us see the process of conception to birth right through the clear water... unlike a human embryo/fetus which will always have the air of mystery blanketed by a belly- even with our fancy ultra sound.
And now they have big fat heads, long skinny tails which will soon turn into tiny feet made for hopping! They are able to swim around in their tadpole herd and move from spot to spot freely because all the bubble goop is gone. They wade in the most shallow part of the water still though - I haven't seen anyone stray from the group.
The frogs they will become are really freaking huge... One big guy in the pond is so large that when he jumps into the water the splash is so belly-floppin' hard that the water has hit me in the face from up to five feet away!
I tried so hard to sneak up on the spring pond full of mating frogs... i walked quietly and slowly from far away, trying to stop in between each step so I would not be noticed. The frogs were loudly making all their spring time mating calls, which is enough to make me feel warm inside already. From a distance I could see their heads above the water, floating on the surface and singing their love songs - at first it looked like turtles, the way they float with just their nose poking out the water, and these frogs are quite large.
This brave one, was the last to go from their relaxed floating, to the unknowable abyss below.
I then noticed right next to the lone ranger, was tadpole eggs already starting their process of life!!! How cool is that?
Like abstract art, or really the mimic of how all life starts... beautiful dots just riding beneath the surface of the water.... I couldnt paint a cooler picture.
XoXo
YAY! A tiny tree frog that I have never seen before, and it is really amazing. Brown stripes over it's eyes, and striped back legs... plus...
Polka dots and adorned with froggy jewels.
The frog was getting so much super star quality attention that a nearby toad leaned in for a hot shot of his sassy self! Aren't his spots and bumps handsome?
I am pretty sure they were all on the trail of the little snail!
XoXooo
This muted and darkly colored copperhead was in the bamboo grove stalking a little baby corn snake. In the shade of the bamboo it was hard to tell what types of snake they were, what the hec was going on, and if the corn snake was a baby copperhead or not... what I was waiting for was the actual moment of strike- when the copperhead was going to eat the corn snake. There was also consideration about whether I would join the stalk party, turn the whole moment upside down and kill the copperhead to eat it.
I chose to observe, since I am not the best (mentally) at killing (although I bet I'd be good at cooking a snake, being from Louisiana and all). If you click on the actual pictures here you can view a larger version which is much more intense and frightening (especially that one right above) because then you can look a copperhead right in the eye!
Both snakes moved so slow you could barely detect actual movement, unless you turned and looked the other way and then looked back again to see the position had changed. They were frozen - so long, the shadows in the dark bamboo would play tricks on ya' eyes, making everything look like it slithered. The copperhead snake was approximately 2 1/2 feet long (maybe a little longer) and pretty well fed judging by it's girthy radius.
The wild thing is... I walked off for a few minutes and came back and the little corn snake had disappeared. Swallowed? Could it have actually gotten away? Does the copperhead even have to make effort to swallow something that small? 
Spooky and beautiful!XoXo
I found this turtle slowly walking through my bean garden in between furrows. I really reallllly really love turtles - I feel terrible about scaring them cause inevitably I have to pick it up and examine all it's neat shell patterns. The golden orange spots on this turtle's armour look alot like hand prints, paw prints and leopard spots... it's too neat for words so here's some pictures:
Well, Hello. (Clears throat...) My name is Cornilius Boobabum and if you kiss me I will not only be a prince, but in my regal human form I will continue to make this smug ass expression throughout our life together. Pick ME!
LOL. This toad really is almost cute enough to smooch if ya look at him in just the right state of mind, I mean check out those cool patterns, colors and camouflage markings. Not to mention the adorable way he holds his hands together (is that two thumbs down)... & nice frog legs.
BTW- that's a boy holding the toad, not me. I am not that flat.
Oh My Gawd! I have never in my life seen a froggy this small... ever! It's so micro sized that it makes my eyes water to even look at how flippin' cute it is. At first sight I thought I was looking at a baby cricket jumping under the rocks I was lifting, then I realized it was a jet black baby toad (or frog... or whatever amphibian it may be?) Possibly a decedent to the huge plump toad I found in that area a few days ago.
Just as a note to it's size- my hand it also super small, probably 1/3 to 1/2 the length of whatevs' your hand is. This little hopper was smaller then my pinky fingernail!
xoxo
