2.15.2005

A Fine Day in the Forest

It was positively glorious out today...warm and sunny as days sometimes are in mid-February in North Carolina. I headed out with a mission in mind: I wanted to see if I could find some northern cricket frogs. We have both northern and southern cricket frogs and I can't tell them apart without catching them and looking at their little frog butts. Success! I caught and examined three cricket frogs -- all of them northerns. How do I know? Why, it was the presence of the infamous subanal tubercles.

Cricket frogs weren't the only amphibians out and about today. There were southern leopard frogs calling, a pickerel frog just waking up, some sort of young frog that may have been a green frog, and of course, lots of salamanders.

I had more fun than a grown woman should, chasing down and catching these frogs. (Of course, it wasn't until after I saw the pictures that I realized I really could use a manicure.) Anyway, if it has been a while since you grabbed (gently, of course) a wriggly little frog, I highly recommend it. Just be sure your hands are wet and chemical free when you do. All creatures deserve our respect.

3 comments:

Mr. Bloggerific Himself said...

Chemical free? That completely goes against my "Lubrication" post. I'm sure I am not up to it.

Think of all the drying! Don’t little froggies need a little colloidal oatmeal moisturization?

swamp4me said...

Heavens no! Froggies supply their own. And you, of course, are free to lube back up after your excursion into the wild.

Mr. Bloggerific Himself said...

Sorry froggies, you're out little dudes. Don't say I didn't try.

Chapstick on frog lips?