Project: One photo a day (but not necessarily every day)

[monadnocky]

^^^ I'm guessing green frog pollywogs? or bullfrog? anyone know?

[Paul Jacobs]

^^^ I'm guessing green frog pollywogs? or bullfrog? anyone know?

The clue is in my address. These are European common frog (Rana temporaria) tadpoles (sadly now less common than they used to be). The picture is not of a pond but a river bank. The tadpoles are separated from the main river by a tiny sand bar and a few reeds. I hope some survive. The obvious threats are flood or drought, birds feed in the shallows (a couple of ducks moved away as I approached), trout patrol the deeper river and cattle trample the banks.

[j44ke]

Wood frog in wood chips. One of our more terrestrial (versus aquatic) frogs. Along with the gray tree frog, they create a nice woodland chorus in the spring. This one was taking advantage of my tree watering routine to get a bit of a shower. Hopped out of the grass onto the mulch around the tree when I turned the water on. It is very dry here. No real rainfall for weeks.

[caleb]

Caleb, that's nuts. I don't know how you did that without it flying off. I about killed myself yesterday in the back yard trying to get a picture of one of those big yellow and black swallowtails. The one person other than me that works on my bikes in town here, Dave Pitts, has been taking lots of micro photos of bugs and I don't know how he manages it either.

I was actually weedeating when I bumped the fern it was on with my leg. It flared it's wings out like it was ready to stand its ground and fight. It wasn't going anywhere.

Crazy looking critter, by the way. Its body was hairy like a big spider.

[72gmc]

Paul Jacobs, thanks for that picture. As a kid, after school, I'd pull on rubber boots, grab a butter dish, and head for the little swampy pond next to our driveway. It was usually black with pollywogs, then fewer pollywogs with legs, then frogs, and it taught me things. It's as if the frog lifecycle was made for kids to observe.

[Paul Jacobs]

I went back to check on the tadpoles which generated a certain amount of interest

[Tom]

Keith's grandmother's peony

20200612_193931 by Tom Ambros, on Flickr

[guido]

Monarch's favorite...

[caleb]

[Paul Jacobs]

allotment
/əˈlɒtm(ə)nt/
Learn to pronounce
noun
1.
BRITISH
a plot of land rented by an individual for growing vegetables or flowers.

[j44ke]

Chickens surfing the rock dust pile.

[Mabouya]

Chickens surfing the rock dust pile.

Jorn, I can't remember if this has come up in the "bought some land" thread, but you have so much fun with those chickens, once you're done with the move and have settled in I hope you get a coop (a secure one, given the wildlife out there) and some chickens and guinea hens. Imagine - as may fresh eggs as you care to eat - and enough to share with the neighbors.

[j44ke]

Jorn, I can't remember if this has come up in the "bought some land" thread, but you have so much fun with those chickens, once you're done with the move and have settled in I hope you get a coop (a secure one, given the wildlife out there) and some chickens and guinea hens. Imagine - as may fresh eggs as you care to eat - and enough to share with the neighbors.

They are definitely much better than television. My main worry is that everything in the woods seems to eat chickens. Fishers, foxes, coyotes, raccoons, bears, red-tailed hawks, barred owls, etc. So seems likely they'd give new meaning to the words "bird feeder". But we may end up getting them anyway. The local "lawn & garden" gets all sorts of interesting breeds each spring, so it is only a matter of time I expect. "Look what followed me home!"

[j44ke]

[guido]

No kitty cat this one...

[NorTX-Dave]

To continue the amphibian theme......this is a Southwestern Woodhouse's toad - Anaxyrus woodhousii australis hanging out in the river rock landscaping at my back door. He's one of 4 that have taken up residence.

P1020198 (2).jpg

[claritycycler]

Cactus flower on one of our plants around the yard.


iPhone SE pic

[bking]

[j44ke]

Great Barrington evidently experienced the dreaded bunny thunderstorm last night.

[Tom]

That's no ordinary rabbit!