Sally Teschon, a friend of this blog, has noticed the dearth of frogs this year as well.
She has put together a bunch of wonderful frog photos from summers past at the Celery Farm.
Click "Continue reading ..." to see what we are (sadly) missing this year. Thanks, Sal!
Last week, I posted an item about the dearth of [primarily green] frogs along the Allendale Brook this year, and got many responses and two theories, both related to our very wet June weather.
According to one theory, all that rain allowed the frogs to move to wet areas beyond the brook.
According to the other theory, all that rain generated all kinds of polluted stormwater runoff, which did a number on the frog population.
Sad to say, I have been leaning toward the latter, especially since there are such drainage problems along the Allendale Brook just south of the Celery Farm. But Patrick Scheuer, director of NJ Audubon's Lorrimer Sanctuary, goes along with the wet June theory. That's encouraging.
Marsh Warden Stiles Thomas called today to ask if I have noticed any drop in the Celery Farm frog population. He said that most summers, he hears or sees a frog jump every few feet along the Allendale Brook, but this year he has seen or heard very few.
My wife and I have noticed a similar decline along the brook, and though we hear an occasional bullfrog, it seems not as noisy as years past.
What have you noticed this year, frog-wise, and do you have any idea why it might be?
Do you know of anyone who does annual frog counts at the Celery Farm?
E-mail me and I will post the results of this informal survey and any information I might pass along.
Just when I thought it was safe to go into my side yard again, I recently came across this little lady using the mulch as her maternity ward.
The yard was also home to multiple Snapping Turtle egg caches this spring, most of which have been pillaged by raccoons.
Now 'tis the season for Red-eared Sliders. I found one laying eggs in my front yard this morning, and also saw one encrusted with mud as it walked down the path at the Celery Farm's No-Name Culvert.
More on red-eared sliders here -- an article from the Tortuga Gazette. (What a great name.)
As it turns out, these turtles are among the most-common turtles in the world, and huge in the pet trade. This guy is likely descendant of a pet turtle released into the wild. They are hated in Australia (story here.)
What can I say? Kids like 'em, and they are a sign of warmer weather...
A few weeks back, I posted an item about a Snapping Turtle with blue paint on her shell who had laid her eggs in my side yard.
Judging from the collective carnage in the yard, I would have to say that once again it was a maternity ward for Snapping Turtles, and once again a predator or two used it as their pantry.
There must be a hundred pillaged turtle eggs scattered across the mulch.
By now, it seems clear that the turtles' reproductive strategy is to lay as many eggs as possible, and hope that the raccoons and other predators miss a few.
By now, given the number of Snapping Turtles in Lake Appert and environs, the strategy seems to work.
Other "Reptiles and Amphibians" posts here.
This Snapping Turtle was laying her eggs in my sideyard earlier this week. I noticed that she had a light-blue dot on her shell.
Does this mean anything to anyone? (Insert joke or post a helpful comment.)
To see the world's greatest snapping turtle egg-laying video ever, click here.
The bed and breakfast near Hawk Mountain Sanctuary in Pennsylvania has an awesome pond out back. I was testing a new telephoto lens, when this wacky frog went scooting across the lily pads...
Soon: Shots from Hawk Mountain's Native Plant Garden.
