About time to get out of the water

In late June, I spoke about some tadpoles occupying the backyard pond, which I’m reasonably certain were green frogs (Lithobates clamitans,) as well as catching a pair of Copes grey treefrogs (Hyla chrysoscelis) in “the act,” more or less. In the intervening time, both the adult and read more

Fill frogs

I have been trying to get to a couple of posts, including possibly a podcast, for quite a while now, and just haven’t been able to get my shit together. So for now, because I feel guilty and inadequate, I’m going to do a quickie to feature a few of the amphibians I’ve found in the past few weeks.

This particular image goes back to the beginning of May, before the beach trip, and read more

Get back, winter!

We’ve had a couple of overnight frosts and some generally cool days, and I figured the treefrogs had packed it in for the winter, though the aquatic frogs in the backyard pond might still be sporadically active. Recently a warm front pushed in, bringing quite nice temperatures and a bit of rain, and last night I went out in just a t-shirt (well, okay, pants too) to take a peek in the backyard. read more

Get your mind out of the gutter

Since I had to get up early this morning, naturally I was up late last night checking out the little pond in the yard. The larger frogs have all moved on, to be replaced by five smaller frogs (all green frogs, Lithobates clamitans, I believe,) and a huge number of tadpoles and newborn minnows. But the thing that captured my attention was, once again, an insect.

Atop the leaves of the pond plants read more

Still got the creepy thing going on


One of the problems with ornamental plants is how much maintenance they might require. The Girlfriend has a new rose bush that she really likes, and last year it got decimated by an early and earnest attack of inchworms – this was in contrast to another rose that came with the property, that remained almost entirely untouched. This year we were ready, and as the season started, read more

Misfits


Still involved in many other things right now, so here are a handful of images from the recent past that just never got into blog posts, for one reason or another – some of which may become obvious.

First off we have the most recent images from just a few days ago, an unidentified Hemipteran nymph, quite a small one. I am inclined to call it an assassin bug, but so far I have found no species read more

Well, I still don’t know


After making the previous post, I went out to water the plants (yes, at 2 am, don’t judge me, I’m not judging you) and was able to creep up on the frog in the pond with the use of the headlamp. The bright light doesn’t register as a danger to them, so even though this one was the wariest I’ve seen in a while, I could do a nice portrait – despite read more

Three frog night


This next week is promising to be a little thin on posts, though I’m going to try and finish a few currently in drafts. But here’s a quickie.

So, on stepping outside Tuesday night, I heard the treefrogs calling not far away, and I decided I needed to try and record their calls. I grabbed my little digital voice recorder and the camera and began following the sounds, confirming my suspicions read more

Good habits and bad


So for today’s topic, let’s talk about good nature photography habits – and bad ones too.

First off, let me just say that in the time I’ve been doing this blog, both of the species seen here have had their scientific names changed, because I guess taxonomists get bored. Actually, I know it’s because new information regarding relation and genetics and all that read more

Not according to plan


So, okay. I went out yesterday to check out the nature trails behind UNC’s botanical garden, for the first time in over a decade. You’d like to think that nature photographers are always in touch with every natural area nearby – and they probably are… it’s just that I’m not. Actually, read more

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