Getting out into the field is always fun, but some days are more fun than others. As I mentioned yesterday, I got wonderfully sidetracked by some little frogs (toads, more likely, given how scrawny the legs are) while taking pictures of birds during the May 2010 edition of the North American Migration Count:
Despite having most of the field guides that should help me identify them (among others, Frogs and Toads of the Southeast, the Reptiles and Amphibians of Florida, and the Frogs and Toads of North America) I am just not good with amphibians. I grew up in Los Angeles, and played Frogger much more often than I saw real live frogs. (Lizards, I saw my fair share of, although I never went so far as to identify them to species.)
So, needless to say, I haven’t been able to figure out what species it is yet. Anyone out there care to help me out?
I got the one good shot of this individual after several unsuccessful attempts:
The good thing is, it didn’t move very fast or very far, so I was finally able to get the one decent shot. And it was only after I’d gotten the shot that I took a closer look at my surroundings. I had trailed those little hoppers through what I had assumed was a tangle of muscadine grape and overgrown grass at the water’s edge. After I’d stopped, I discovered that this little bugger had dragged me through not the benign wild grapes, but my old nemesis, Toxicodendron radicans. Sigh.
More on that next week.
In the meantime, if anyone knows what this little guy is, I’d appreciate a heads-up. Cheers!
Cool post! Don’t know what the little guy is, but apparently he isn’t going to win the Calaveras County contest any time soon? These guys might, though: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/05/100512-frog-muscle-study-embed-video/