Posts in Category: frog
Fleischmann’s Glass Frog
Fleischmann’s Glass Frog: Canopy Lodge, Panama, July 2022 — One of my favorite things to do in the tropics is to go out at night with a flashlight looking for frogs (and whatever else we find). I was particularly eager at the Canopy Lodge in Panama because Glass Frogs live on the property. I have seen a few different species of Glass Frogs in Costa Rica, but only when Cope has brought them in for photography at his place. I was hoping to encounter one “in the wild” in Panama. Tino, my guide at the Lodge, was pretty confident he could find me some around the ponds on the far side of the stream, and indeed he did…three individuals and a couple of egg clusters. Fleischmann’s Glass. Frog is one of the smaller Glass Frogs…at under one inch, the smallest I have seen so far. All Glass Frogs shelter on the underside of leaves in the rain and it had just stopped raining when we went out, so we did a lot of peaking under leaves. These were hiding along the small stream that runs out from the lower swimming pool/pond. The egg cluster was about 20 times as big as either frog. There are fertile eggs in the cluster, and infertile. The tadpoles first meal will be the infertile eggs. The call of this Glass Frog is a sharp “wheeet” and, as you can see from the inflated call sacks, they were calling almost continuously…trying to attract females and defending their small territories. Sony Rx10iv at 330mm to 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications and multi-frame noise reduction. Taken by the light of a led flashlight. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos.
Wood Frogs!
Wood Frogs: Kennebunk, Maine, USA — Let’s take a break from the exotic birds of Coast Rica to celebrate spring in southern Maine. The Wood Frogs are mating in every vernal pool between home and the beach, all down Brown Street…and I am sure in almost every still water in southern Maine. They seem particularly loud this year. Springs is coming in! Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 200-320 @ f4 @ 1/500th.
Red-eyed Leaf Frog
Red-eyed Leaf Frog: Danta Corcovado Lodge, Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica — I posted a comparison post a while back now, featuring the different varieties of the Red-eyed Leaf Frog found we found at Selva Verde Lodge in the Sarapique River Valley in the Caribbean lowlands, and the Red-eyed Leaf Frogs we found at Danta Corcovado Lodge on the Osa Peninsula in the Pacific lowlands. There are 5 species of Leaf Frog found in Costa Rica, but there are apparently at least 5 distinct color variations of the Red-eyed Leaf Frog. The one you see almost exclusively in photos, with orange feet and bright blue flank bars, is the variety we found on the Caribbean slope. This one on the Osa Peninsula, with greeny-grey feet and almost black and white flank bars, is “variety A” (according to my field guide). I find it interesting that I could only find a single reference to the color variations in the Red-eyed Leaf Frog in a google search, and that was in a scientific paper on variations in defense peptides in the skins of the species. All of the more accessible internet sources, from Wikipedia to National Geographic, picture and describe only the orange-footed variety. I can be forgiven then, for thinking, for a moment there, that this might be a separate species. 🙂 Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with wildlife modifications and multi-frame noise reduction. Taken by the light of a flashlight. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. Equivalent ISO 5000 @ f4 @ 1/500th.
Fitzinger’s Rain Frog (Robber Frog?)
I think this is a Fitzinger’s Rain Frog, aka Fitzinger’s Robber Frog. Danta Corcovado Lodge, Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica — Rain Frogs, often also called Robber Frogs, are common all over Costa Rica. Pinning down the exact species is best left to those who really know their amphibians…which is not me. This was the first critter we encountered on our “night walk” our second night at Danta Corcovado Lodge on the Osa Peninsula. Taken by the light of a flashlight, using multi-frame noise reduction on the Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with wildlife modifications and multi-frame noise reduction. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. Equivalent ISO 4000 @ f4 @ 1/500th.
Red-eyed Leaf Frogs
Red-eyed Leaf Frogs: Selva Verde Lodge. Costa Rica’s Best Chocolate, and, Danta Corcovado Lodge, Costa Rica — The Red-eyed Leaf Frog shares top billing with the Resplendent Quetzal as the emblem of conservation and ecological awareness in Costa Rica. You need, as our guide Edwin says, “a sexy” emblem to get people excited about conservation. People love Leaf Frogs. We always go out looking for them at Selva Verde Lodge one of our first nights there. This year the pond near the dinning hall, which is maintained specifically to attract the frogs, was under repair, so they were not as abundant, or at least not as easy to see, as they have been on past visits, but we still found a few on good perches for photography. The gallery includes a male and a female from Selva Verde, showing off the typical colors. I have included two frogs with similar poses, one from the Chocolate Tour at Costa Rica’s Best Chocolate, just across the road from Selva Verde in the Sarapique Valley of the Caribbean lowlands and one from Danta Corcovado Lodge on the Osa Peninsula in the Pacific lowlands. At first I was convinced the Osa frog was a different species, but it turns out there are at least 3 distinct color variations of the one species. They are all Red-eyed Leaf Frogs. The Pacific variety is not the one you see on the conservation posters, but it is still a great frog! Sony Rx10iv at various focal lengths to frame the frogs. Program mode with multi-frame noise reduction. Taken with flashlights (not camera flash) to disturb the frogs as little as possible.
Fresh Frog!
American Bullfrog: Day Brook Pond, Kennebunk Plains Preserve, Kennebunk, Maine, USA — I always have to look up the difference between the Bull and Green Frog, as we have both here, often in the same pond. This one is a Bullfrog since it lacks the dorsal ridges of the Green. I could not resist taking the photo as it sat so nicely on the bit of sand right at my feet at the edge of the pond. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos. ISO 250 @ f4 @ 1/500th.
Pickerel Frog
Pickerel Frog, Old Falls on the Mousam River, Lyman, Maine — I went looking for a bridge to play my low whistle under (for the acoustics, just for fun), and while at Old Falls on the Mousam River, I, of course, went for a walk down the river looking for dragonflies and birds. Not may of either around, but there were little Pickerel Frogs all over the place. Beautiful little creatures, with their rich colors and interesting patterns, and great light. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.
Froggy went a courting…
American Bull Frogs, Kennebunk, Maine, USA — The drainage pond at our local hospital health center is full of huge Bull Frogs, among the biggest I have ever seen, and certainly the biggest collection of big frogs that I have come across. Here we have both a male and a female. For some reason I see far fewer females than males…or perhaps it is just that I am noticing the difference more often. 🙂 I would not make a good Bull Frog. 🙁 Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.
A tale of two frogs…
I went out to Day Brook Pond on what was the Kennebunk Plains Wildlife Management Area. Management of the area has apparently been reclaimed by the Nature Conservancy, who owns the land, and had a agreement with the State of Maine to mange it. All the signage has changed this spring, and they have put up new yellow gates to control vehicle access. The pond is still the same though. Rich in odonata, water snakes, turtles, birds, and frogs. This Northern Pickerel Frog was sitting quietly on the edge, only a foot or so from a mottled greenish frog that I took for a small Bull Frog, just the same size as the Pickerel. However, researching it this morning, I am thinking it might, in fact, be a Green Frog, also common in warmer waters (like the edge of Day Brook Pond) in Maine. You can just see the straight ridge behind the eye on the left side. If so, I assume I have seen hundreds of Green Frogs in Maine, and simply mis-identified them as small Bull Frogs all along. Now that I know the differences to look for, I will be looking more closely at any small green frogs I find. 🙂 Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.
Wood Frog Symphony
I was out the other day walking in the woods of Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge, just down the street from us actually. When I got back to the car there was a Wood Frog Symphony going on the vernal pool next to the road. I have tried to photograph the Wood Frogs singing in the past, with mixed luck, but this time I found two largish males quite near each other who stayed on the surface as I approached the pool. They are tricky to photograph, as are any frogs, since the wet spots on their skin reflect so strongly creating highlights that are totally burned out. I did some cloning on these shots to make them look more realistic. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos. Highlights retouched in TouchRetouch.