Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Frogs of New York State

Hello there! I hope things are going well for you this week so far! I don't know about where you live, but here, in Northern NY, we have been OVER RUN with frogs all spring/summer, and now fall! They are everywhere! Cody and I have been spotting and photographing these little critters for a couple of months now, and I have a bunch of them to share with you!
I looked up a spot on the New York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation site, that talks about NOT taking frogs, but you are allowed to pick them up, photograph them, and re release them! They also had a great PDF that we looked at, to try to identify the frogs we saw. I am not 100% certain that I have id'd them correctly-one would think that it wouldn't be too difficult, but some of the frogs were the size of a dime, and it was difficult to get a good look!

This first one is a Gray Tree Frog we spotted at my Mom's, during camp. I was driving out of the driveway, and saw something on their plant hanger. It was a little frog, with a bug in his hand!! They change colors, here, he is lime green. We didn't seem to bother him at all, he just sat perfectly still!
This is another Gray Tree Frog, that we spotted on the side of my neighbor's house. He is the same as the one above, just different camo. Here he is green with white patches, black dividing the areas.


Here is the same frog, after Cody picked it up! Look at the drastic change in color! Amazing! I just love to hear these little guys outside the house during the summer!

This one is the tiniest one I found. That is my huge amazon lady hand, and the frog is about the size of a dime. I have identified him as a spring peeper, but he is so tiny, and the photo wasn't great, so I can't be sure!

This is another one we found outside my neighbor's house. I think he is a Spring Peeper, too. You would not believe the HOURS I spent online trying to find photos to compare these frogs to. This one has a very prominent "nose". Again, not sure!!


This is one of two identical frogs that Cody brought home from his cousin's house in soda bottles. I scolded him, we took photos, and let them go. This one is a wood frog. He has the prominent brownish black lines on the sides of his head, and the ridges on his back. Very cute!


So there you have it! Soon, all the summer wildlife will be gone, and fall will be here! There are a few trees already starting to turn, and I have been hearing Canadian geese a few mornings this week. A sure sign! Autumn here in the adirondacks is stunning! Hope you liked our collection of frogs!!

Have a good night,

**Keri**

7 comments:

Tanya said...

Wow, that's a lot of frogs! We don't have them like that here. I mean, there are quite a few, but you only see them if you are by a pond or long grass.

My sister is really into frogs and would love this post!!

:) Have a GREAT night!

Andi (RrlScrapGal) said...

I love little frogs!!!! I used to live in Missouri and we caught them all the time...
When I took my kids, when they were about 5&6 they had so much fun at my sister's farm.. hunting for itty bitty frogs!

We get some little green guys here.. I love their night time song....

Lisa Carroll said...

Aw! They are so CUTE!

My boys love frogs... they go down to the revene every time it rains to pick some up. :)

Dawn Estes said...

Keri -
Hi! I'm checking out your blog since you just check out mine! (lilbitofnothing.blogspot.com). I don't have much time today, but I am excited to check out all your crafting posts! I am DMEmomto3 on SCS. Very nice to meet another crafting daycare mom!
Dawn

glitzen said...

Oh Keri, you are so lucky! I just love frogs. I have a pet frog named Prince Charming. He is aquatic. He is my friend...LOL!
You got so many awesome frog pics. Thanks for trying to identify them, its so interesting. They are all so cool! I love the wood frog. And the dinky dinky doo frog. Sooo cute. Lucky!

Lisa Renéa said...

ha! What a cute post! Perhaps, I should invite Mr. Toad in to read it! He continues to visit at the front door, each evening!

Sue McGettigan said...

Too cute! We love little frogs - DS was really into frogs when he was little :)