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Category Archives: herptiles
August goulash
This is a collection of images from August, none of which has had a posting of its own. An osprey flies by with a fish. Earlier I showed a Solitary Sandpiper. Here is another migrant: a Semipalmated Sandpiper. In … Continue reading
Posted in birds, herptiles
3 Comments
July goulash
Nothing from this baker’s dozen of July images has had a posting of its own. A few birds avoid the valleys and prefer the mountains. One of these is the White-crowned Sparrow. Wintering to the south, it breeds here … Continue reading
Posted in birds, bugs, herptiles, mammals
4 Comments
Tadpoles aplenty
A posting a month ago showed western toads in amplexus along with strings of eggs. It can hardly be a surprise to now see the fruits of that conjugation in the form of hundreds of tadpoles. In the shallows … Continue reading
Posted in herptiles
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Toad amplexus
May is amplexus time for the western toad. The male toad (the smaller of the two) climbs on the female’s back and grabs her under the armpits. This stimulates her to release eggs, which he then fertilizes. A male … Continue reading
Posted in herptiles
3 Comments
Amplexus consequences
One month after taking pictures of Western Toads in amplexus, I returned to the same shoreline. The consequence of the earlier activity was impressive: thousands of tadpoles.
Posted in herptiles
2 Comments
Party toads
The Western Toad certainly knows how to throw an orgy. There were many dozen of them in the shallows mating promiscuously cheek by jowl. The mating technique of these toads is called amplexus. Amplexus (Latin for embrace) is a type … Continue reading
Posted in herptiles
4 Comments
Rapidity of May
The rapidity of May is the speed of change that takes place as the region shifts from winter to summer. Events pile up on my camera. Here are a few of them. The rising waters of the Lake overflow … Continue reading
Posted in birds, bugs, herptiles, mammals
6 Comments
Owl, toad, rainbow
Seen yesterday: a Great Horned Owl chick, a Western Toad, a double rainbow. A recent posting showed a Great Horned Owl parent and one of its chicks. Here is the other. Lest one be called a speciesist, we must … Continue reading
Posted in birds, herptiles, weather
5 Comments
Painted plastron
Our only local turtle is the Painted Turtle, but why call it that? After all, a view of these creatures basking on a loafing log shows a carapace of gun-metal grey — hardly something that invites the appellation, painted. … Continue reading
Posted in herptiles
2 Comments
Canada’s diversity
Today, July 1st, marks Canada Day and the country’s 152nd birthday. Canadians value and celebrate diversity — by which they mean cultural diversity. However, some feel that the preservation of our species diversity merits a similar attention. This selection … Continue reading →