FrogWatch

[reallyginnyf]

Nothing to see here, just putting some stuff down before FrogWatch season starts and I'll be adding things as I go along so no need to comment unless you're as interested in those little croaking bioindicators as I am.  Spoiler alert:  You're probably not. I'm a little weird when it comes to frogs

Comments

[grigorisgirl]

What a pretty frog! Our frogs are just pretty much, well, green over here. We have a pond in the garden and I did hear croaking the other night so think things must be hotting up down in the reeds even though we have had a couple of frosty mornings. We never saw the frogspawn last year but the tadpoles were there so it must have been well hidden. YS spotted a baby newt last year too which was very exciting. Do you have newts over there?

[reallyginnyf]

In Missouri we only have the central newt but about 50 or so types of salamander including the awesomely-named Hellbender.

I know the UK has the common toad and common frog and they are both attractive little things. I particularly love the common frog's call which sounds like a cat purring. And it tickles me that the Latin name for the Common Toad is "Bufo bufo" which is literally just "toad toad."

Some day in the future, and it's probably just a dream, but I want to visit the Natterjack toad reserve on the Cumbria coast so I can listen for its call and maybe get a look at one with its pretty yellow back stripe. Yeah, some Americans want to see London, I want to go trudging through a bog for a look at a Natterjack. :)

[reallyginnyf]

They're so cute, aren't they? I know the picture makes it look enormous but leopard frogs are only about 2 to 4 inches long. Their habitat is in the extreme northern counties of my state so it's doubtful I'll ever get to see one in the wild unless I travel about 3 hours. But they are really darling.