The Birds Are Singing and The Snow is Melting

     Yesterday, I took the dog out to a buddy's woods and creek to visit a younger doggy friend. It was a brilliant day with March snowflakes, flowing water, and ice jams piled up along the banks of the creek.

     There were many herd paths leading out to the creek itself and around and through the woods.

     The two dogs had a great time digging holes in the snow and playing. The pictures of them playing together did not come out well enough to post them. The younger dog that we visited is a very balanced and stable dog. She knew enough to know that Blondie is very old and adjusted her play style accordingly. 

     

     Being a yellow lab, Luna was ready to play fetch and also to investigate bits of ice melting into a nearby stream.

     Blondie for her part was alert and happy.

     She enjoyed her time there investigating the smells around the creek and woods. When it was time to go home, she was ready for a nap.

     This morning, Blondie and I went to a small creek and some cleared land where there is a jogging path. Since the snows came, there have been few joggers or walkers there. Absolutely no one else was around when we showed up.

     Blondie was happy to be there and flopped down to do a doggy snow angel-- I really do have to take a picture of this-- so I knew that she has been feeling better. We walked near the jogging path [which indeed was covered by snow] and watched various birds doing what birds do. 

     The cardinals have been out in full force, singing from trees all over the place. I think it must be mating season for them. The cardinal "whistles" were predominant. I spied one hairy woodpecker tapping a dead aspen for insects. She was pretty fat. There aren't so many over-eaters in the bird world so I figure she must have been pregnant but I don't really know for sure. The year-round robins were flying around from their copse of trees to what grass could be seen. Looking for grubs? Maybe. I don't really know. I don't know the life cycle of grubs well enough to know where they are right now. I didn't see the resident blackbirds or the crows there this morning. That surprised me.

     The agency that "owns" the part of the creek [and the jogging path itself] decided last summer to not mow near the creek anymore. And it also arranged to have gray stones put down in the water channel of the creek itself. Both in my view were sucky decisions. The minkies and the greenies and the northern leopards [all frog species] had been doing fine in and around their creek before the agency messed things up. 

     I figure that after the ice and snow are gone, I will drop by the creek several times a week and move one stone at a time out of the water channel over to the sides. At least then the frogs will be happier again. If I move one stone a day, folks won't notice for awhile.

sapphoq n friends

Bird Feeder News August 6, 2014

     Over the last two days, I've had pine siskin and red crossbill visit the feeders. The pine siskin is a spunky fella with a hoarse voice. I spotted something small and brownish. First general impression was of finch-like behavior, a bit more nervous and shy than the usual drop-in at the feeders. Once he opened his mouth, I knew. It was that raspy "zipper" call that gave him away. He called while feeding and flitting back and forth between his chosen feeder and the middle branches of the tree. 

     His buddy the red crossbill was a bit less nervous, having already been to the feeders. The crossbill ate quietly, picking the seeds out and not having to fly into the tree to crack the seeds open. I suspect it was the chickadees who led them to the backyard. 

     Within walking distance are fields, woods, a couple of parks, a creek, and some wetlands. That siskins and crossbills would live nearby was not a surprise. I wasn't expecting them to show up. Both are irruptive. With the surrounding environs, they didn't have to travel very far. I didn't recognize any females although they could have been present. 

     One female hairy woodpecker came briefly to the feeder the other day. She was very pretty-- if such as adjective is not out of place in describing a wild bird-- and stayed for only a minute before flying away.

     The red-bellied woodpecker has become a regular. I've spied it between two and four times a day eating from the sunflower kernel feeder. These three visitors have caused me to wonder what is going on in the woods. Either the food supplies there are not what they usually are [summer has been rainy and late this year] or perhaps the presence of two aggressive dogs living near the woods have forced them to look for food in places where the pooches are not able to go. [Our yard is fenced in]. The presence of our aging dog-- who does not chase birds, only squirrels-- did not seem to bother these three visitors.

     Over the last couple of summers, there has been a gradual increase in our population of red squirrels and younger red x gray squirrel crosses. [Reports are that they can and do interbreed]. The tails of the reds are less bushy than those of the grays. The reds are also bolder, daring to use the deck railings as a pathway to one of the trees. Staring at them gets them to turn around. I really do not want any squirrels so close to me that I can touch them. They are wild and deserve to stay that way.

     I haven't seen the crow that was buzzing me but the male red-wing blackbird continues to hang with some of the local grackles. He flies in with a bunch of them. The grackles mostly concentrate on the corn while the red-wing eats from the sunflower kernels and the suet. The grackles will sample other things as well, but the corn mixture [which includes pumpkin seeds and peanuts] seems to be their favorite. I've watched quite a few grackles hop down from the platform feeders with corn kernels in their bills. They are confident birds. When the sun is out, their bluish-black feathers shine. I now have an underfeather-- a very small one about the size of a pinky nail-- which also glistens a pretty bluish color in the sun.

     The cast of regulars continue to show up: chickadees, nuthatches, mourning doves, a pair of purple finches, some house finches, tons of goldfinches [who are now eating the safflower seeds again along with the sunflower kernels], and of course the grackles. Swallows continue to fly overhead. Starlings have been absent from the yard. Perhaps the grackles discourage them, I don't know.

     I've been studying the way that some of the birds land and how the ones that land in a tree get down to the feeders or the ground. I've also been noting who is wary of who and which bird species appear to be buddies. This is something that has been impossible for me to figure in the woods. I suspect this could be spotted in the nearby parks as well. Truthfully, I prefer the woods and the fields to more civilized places but dog and I do go to the parks sometimes.

     Dog likes to sniff out frogs near and in the creek. [We have our own captive-bred frogs in tanks at home]. She snuffles through the bolt holes in the winter and hunts frogs at her feet while standing in the creek. She doesn't chase them ever but seems to enjoy watching them swim around. A well-behaved and trained dog is a pleasure. Taking the time to teach a dog how to behave is its own reward for both human and dog. This one has not been a deterrent to birding at all. She is not allowed to chase or harass any of the animals around us. [And yes, I pick up her poop!].

          ~sapphoq and friends

More Frog Tags for Your Collection

These are public domain pics.  I added the words.

The horned frog and the blue dart were photos taken by Adrian Arpingstone and placed into the public domain by him.

The dumpy was found at the www.public-domain-images.com site.

As usual, no hot-linking please.  Right click and save the ones you want to snag to your computer.  Thanks.

    

Sharing is NOT Stealing, Frogs, and Tags

I love frogs.  I have some captive-bred frogs in tanks.  Currently I have eight frogs.  In one tank, I've got an African Pyxie male.  The other tank houses two green tree frogs and five fire-bellies.  

Frogs require care just like any other specimen would.  The water has to be kept as carefully as water for a fish tank does.  Frogs are sensitive to bacteria because their skins are semi-permeable.  Each species comes with its' own temperature, light, and environmental needs.  My tree frogs and fire-belly toads prefer community living.  They have a semi-aquatic tank with rocky pullouts, a mini-waterfall, some vines for climbing and some other stuff.  They mostly eat crickets.  The tank itself is also tall so the tree frogs have adequate space for climbing and jumping around.  The African bullfrog has a tank of sterile moss with a water-dish and a resting rock.  He prefers to sit in his water-dish much of the time.  Occasionally, he will climb out and dig out a hole to hide in.  

If you [or your kids] want frogs or other sorts of amphibians or reptiles, please do your research first.  Although many of the herp books are lacking, there is good info out on the web.  A few places have a herp rescue or a herp club.  Don't take any animals from the wild.  Please buy captive-breds only and have your tank set up before you bring them home.  

Here are some tags I made with pictures of a few of my frogs:  As usual, if you want them, right-click to save to your computer.  No hot-linking.  Thanks.

By the way, if you happen to be one of those RIAA type midgets, I mean people, know that I took these photographs myself and added the captions myself.  They are mine to do as I wish with them.  The originals are stored on my computer.  I hate what you are doing.

Copyleft forever.  Sharing is not stealing.

sapphoq n friends     

I Love Frogs

A friend and I had hiked up to a Cod Pond one afternoon and pitched the tent on a whaleback in order to spend the night.  With the pine needles under the tent to make a soft mattress and the sounds of some tiny waterfalls, we were soon serenaded to sleep.  There wasn't hardly any moon that night.  It was spring.  The night air was thick with curls of misty fog. 

THUD.  Friend woke up and screamed.  "Aggggggg!  What's that?"
I couldn't help but wake up.  THUD.  THUD.  Friend kept scream-
ing.  THUD.    THUD. 
THUD.  THUD.  THUD.  The THUDs kept coming and friend kept right on screaming.  He was convinced that the bears were circling around our tent.  THUD.  Friend located a whistle and two rocks which he immediately put to shrill and effective if noisy use.   The assault kept coming.  THUD.  THUD.  THUD.  I was annoyed.  I shone the flashlight up along the ceiling.  "Frogs," I yelled at the shivering lump in the sleeping bag beside me.  "They're frogs!  What did you expect from a place called Cod Pond?"  THUD.  With grave difficulty, I managed to wrest the whistle from his mouth and the rocks from his hands.  It's funny now but it wasn't funny then.

I always thought frogs were pretty cool but I never knew that frogs and their keeping would become a passion.  They did.  At any given time, I have up to fifteen frogs in various tank set-ups.  Currently I am down to one-- he represents the smaller subspecies of the pyxie.  I rescued him from a pet shop and he is almost five years old now.  My first frog was also a pyxie, the larger variety.  Next week, I will be acquiring two African Claw'd from a friend-- one white and one black, only the black looks dark green to me.   

Frogs are not pets.  They are technically specimens.  They don't like to be held or carried around.  Hands must be washed before and after any necessary handling.  The tank must be kept clean.  Water in a frog's tank should be kept like water in a fish tank.  Metal is a toxin to frogs.  Any water dishes should not be metal.  The aquatic African Clawed frogs and African Dwarf frogs do not have any sort of teeth.  Their food filters in their mouths via water currents.  The other frogs all have-- pyxies have three-- pseudodentia embedded in their jaws.  These "fake teeth" are used to hold the food firmly in their mouth.  They can also administer a painful bite to the human who forgets the first rule of frog handling.
Food should be dropped in by long ball forceps or from a container at the front of the frog.  If a frog needs to be moved, approach the frog with your washed hands from his rear.  Wiggling fingers in front of the frog will trigger his "Food!" response and there will be suffering.

Anyone considering a frog should remember that frogs are not very cuddily and can distribute salmonella to the household if basic hand sanitization is not observed.  There is some amount of work to the
care and feeding of frogs.  I prefer pyxies to all other frogs.  I have also had fire bellies, little green tree frogs, White's tree frogs from Australia, a golden who spent much of his time happily installed in a filter which made a waterfall into his tank, and both clawed and dwarf Africans.  Although there is no way currently of telling which individual frogs are spreaders of salmonella to humans, on the whole frogs are sturdy and rarely get sick as long as proper husbandry is observed.  It is unfortunate that frogs that are born in the wild are displaying an increase in birth defects.  A frog's skin is semi-permeable.  Frogs are a sort of score card for how we humans are doing with the environment.  The increase in birth defects in amphibians tells us that we aren't doing so well.  I do not consider myself skilled enough to try my hand at breeding frogs although some day perhaps I will do so.

At the end of a summer, I went to a frog jumping contest.  We all-- adults and kids both-- stood around a chalked circle and rooted for our favorite froggie contestant.  American bullfrogs and Leopards were the best jumpers.  One could blow on a frog's back in order to encourage him to move but one was not permitted to stomp feet at the frogs.  One American bullfrog got away, heading straight for the nearby lake.  He was caught with a net before he could make good on his escape.  The American bullfrogs were rather a nervous bunch but the Leopards weren't so much.  It was an exciting time and I was glad to have gone.  I did not enter any of my frogs in the contest.  African pyxies really don't move around much and are not built for jumping.  In the wild, they burrow down in holes and wait for the food to fall in.  All of my pyxies have displayed this approach to food-getting.  Consequently, I did not enter my pyxie into the contest.  Pyxies just aren't meant for jumping.

If you do consider getting a frog, remember that some frogs are social and really should be kept with others.  Some aren't and will eat their neighbor if they decide that they don't like their neighbor.  Do your research and have your tank set up before you bring your new specimen or specimens home.  And if you have kids, make sure they understand that frogs are not for petting or carrying around.

Please do not head out to the nearest pond or brook in order to catch your new frog.  You will never be able to offer a frog what that frog has in the outdoors.  It is best to purchase frogs born in captivity from a reputable breeder.  And as with any other specimen or pet, commit to keeping frogs in your care for the entirety of their natural life.  My animals-- including frog or frogs-- are all provided for in my will with specific people named to take care of them should I die before they do. 

I wanted to insert a picture of the current frog but it appears that the uploader is not working at the moment.  I will do that on a new post when it is working properly, hopefully sooner rather than later.

Animal Welfare, NOT Animal Rights
sapphoq and friends



There is an article in Scientific American today which tells of the discovery and naming of a new flying frog near Ho Chi Minh City. It has been dubbed Helen's frog.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=australian-biologist-gets-the-jump