Having fun with frogs

There are few places that are more fun to hang out around than ponds.  Whether the pond is large or small, it is an attraction for all kinds of critters.  Frogs, snakes (hate those), birds, and mammals of all kinds gravitate toward ponds for drinking or, in the case of frogs and numerous insects, ponds provide a place to breed and raise a family.  You may click on the pictures to see them in a larger format if you wish.

In the picture above is a tadpole, sometimes called a "pollywog" and in reality a frog in the making.  Over time the tadpole will develop lungs, grow legs, lose its tail, and become a full-fledged frog.  The pictures in this entry were all (with the exception of the wood frog) taken at or by my very small fishpond, which shows that you don't need to have access to a large pond in order to see lots of critters.

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What kind of frog will the tadpole grow into?  Will it be a leopard frog like the one pictured above, sunning itself on the rocks?  Or maybe it will become a little grey treefrog like the one pictured below.  The frog is green, but it is truly a gray treefrog and can change its color to match its surroundings.  If the tadpole escapes being eaten by water beetles, birds, snakes, or another larger frog, it will become some kind of frog.

Pictured above is another kind of frog that tadpole could become: a wood frog.  This one had already grown enough to leave the pond and hop about at will in search of food.  But he will return to the pond at times, drawn by the water and the safety a pond offers.

The leopard frog above has found a fine hiding place amongst the water lilies in the pond.  He can peek out to see his world, but can also zip under the lily leaves to escape danger.  Frogs are fabulous swimmers and can move very quickly.  Just try to catch one sometime and you will see how fast they can move!

The huge leopard frog (above) has found himself a fine place to hide and catch insects with his sticky tongue.  If danger threatens he can retreat under the rocks, but while it is safe he suns himself and occasionally snacks on an unwary insect.  He must be feeding well judging from the fat he is carrying, and I suspect that he has filled himself a time or two on tadpoles.

Above is a wood frog taking a rest on a mossy stone.  Wood frogs are usually seen in the woods (surprise!) where they can blend into the leaf duff and hide amongst the leaves and plants that grow on the forest floor.  Below is a small gray tree frog that has left the pond it was born into and crossed the yard to take a seat on a daisy.  Tree frogs can change colors to a point, but they cannot become as yellow as the daisy!  Still, this frog may be mistaken for a piece of stem or leaf by an insect coming to the flower.  One zip of the frog's sticky tongue, and the insect becomes a froggy's dinner.

Frogs are fun to watch as they develop from a tadpole to a frog.  Sometime if you have access to a pond, even a small one, take time to see what lives in it and what comes to it.  A pond has a world all its own and it is a fascinating world to explore.  Enjoy!

Summer Flowers

Beautiful indeed are the flowers of summer. When I posted about spring flowers, I promised a post about summer flowers as well and now redeem my promise. One of the joys of summer is the wide variety of flowers you may grow in the garden or enjoy on an outdoor adventure. Don't get me wrong . . . gardening in itself is an outdoor adventure of a more tame nature, unless you garden like I do and then things can get pretty wild. I am including an assortment of wild and domesticated flowers (most of whom have their wild cousins) to accomodate the tastes of gardeners and wildflower enthusiasts both.

Nodding Trillium

Butterfly Bush

California Poppy

Purple Coneflower

Rudbeckia

Columbine

Wild Rose

Hollyhock

Delphinium

Water Lily

Sunflower

Since a picture is worth a thousand words, and no words of mine can do justice to the flowers, I will leave it to the viewer to exclaim over the beauty of God's handiwork. But when you get outside, just don't forget to sniff the flowers!

A Summer Stroll

July can be a hot month up here, and even though this July has been remarkably cool we have had a few hot days. Last week I took advantage of a hot summer day to take a stroll along a hiking trail in Voyageurs National Park. The trail is only about ten miles from my house, so in the afternoon I set out armed with my camera (of course), plenty of mosquito spray, water, and a lot of enthusiasm. It wasn't long before I came upon a couple of Common Yellow-throats (see picture at left) who were in a state of anxiety and fluttering about complaining in bird language.

At first I thought that the birds were upset with me, but I only flattered myself. I soon saw that they were chasing a short-tailed weasel around! The weasel was bouncing around so fast that I couldn't get a picture of him, but I was fortunate to find a picture on the internet and have placed it at the left, courtesy of the National Park Service. The birds were chasing that little weasel everywhere he went and letting the whole world know that he was on the prowl.

Finally I gave up on the weasel and went on my way down the beautiful trail I was on (see photo at left). The cicadas were singing as only they can when the weather gets hot and even the dragonflies found it necessay to take a break in the heat (next picture).

Taking a pleasant summer stroll is a good way to see lots of pretty flowers, such as the blue flag (wild iris) below the dragonfly, and the blue-eyed grass immediately below it.

Why not take advantage of the nice summer weather and get out for a stroll yourself?  You never know what you will find around the next bend in the trail.  Get out and enjoy! 

Crazy About Loons

I have to admit to a weakness . . . I am crazy about loons. I love seeing them, calling to them, taking pictures of them, and inflicting the pictures I have taken on my friends. Who could not be crazy about these awesome birds? They are world class divers, fabulous swimmers, beautiful to see and eerie to hear . . . best of all they are great fishers and spend their days out on the lake fishing. No wonder I am crazy about loons!

Up here in the North Woods, we have an expression "crazy as a loon" to describe anyone that we find mighty peculiar. Why the expression? Loons are not crazy, of course, and one loon acts much the same as another so they are not peculiar. The expression cames from their call, the tremolo, which you may listen to here. After listening, you may agree that the tremolo sounds a little, well, crazy shall we say?Loons use the tremolo call when they are excited or alarmed. Often this call may be heard if you accidently approach a loon's nest. The nest (below) is always carefully cammoflaged to remain hidden from predators.

Not all calls of the loon sound strange and eerie, though. The wail is a lonely and beautiful call often heard after dusk coming from bays around the lake. Family groups communicate with the "hoot" which sounds just like you would imagine from the name. The yodel is the call male loons make and use to defend their territory. Loons can use any combination of these calls to communicate with other loons.

Loons have no need to rely on technology like depth finders to do their fishing. As you can see in the picture above, loons have a far simpler way of finding fish. The loon has eyes that can see well underwater and it sticks its face into the water and looks down to see if there are any fish around for dinner.

Seeing a fish down below, the loon (above) makes a neat surface dive that is so smooth that it hardly disturbs the water. Now you see it, now you don't, and when you see it again it will not be where it was! To watch a video of a loon diving, you may click here. Loons are powerful swimmers, and when they resurface 100 yards away, there is hardly a ripple to show that they have. One second the lake is empty, and the next there is a loon sitting placidly atop the water.

Don't get the idea that loons are just laid back placid fishers, though. Loons have attitude, as the one above shows by flapping his wings, which in loon language means: "I am so bad . . . don't mess with me, baby!" Loons can be vicious fighters and during the mating season have terrific rumbles down under the water. Their weapon is their strong, pointed, beak which they use as a sword of sorts. The male loons fight under water, twisting and dodging as they try to get the best of their opponent and stab him with a beak. It is serious business, and a stab will pierce the bird who receives it. The long nimble neck of a loon is as dangerous wielding a beak as the arm of an old-time knight was wielding a sword.

For the most part, though, loons are just beautiful birds drifting about on the water during the warm summer days (or winter days, if you live in the South). They are fun to call to using the hoot (who could possible do a tremolo?) and will often respond by coming closer. Watching and calling to loons is just one more way to enjoy the outdoors. But I would not recommend trying to "swim with the loons" as some people swim with porpoises. That beak could as easily pierce you or me as it can a fish or another loon! Loons must be respected and when you learn more about their calls and behavior you can be pretty sure what it is they are trying to tell you. A tremolo means "Back off, you are crowding my space and I'm worried." A hoot is akin to "Howdy y'all!" and a wail is meant for enjoyment as you sit back in your boat or on the shore after sunset. Enjoy!

Bears

Until I moved up to the north woods with my husband the only experience I had with bears was with the stuffed Teddy Bears that all kids love. There were bears where I lived, but they were so shy that I never saw one. However to be married to a wildlife specialist in bear country introduces a whole new world in which bears can play a prominent part.

Funny how pictures of bears always show the bruins in a wild surrounding, eating ants or grass, maybe gobbling down berries. That is what bears usually do, but not always. In a year when the berry crop is poor the bears make do with what they can find and that is where the problem comes in. Very few people up here have not had the unpleasant experience of cleaning up after a bear has raided the garbage or attacked the birdfeeder. These big critters can make a major mess in a short period of time.

In the early years of our life up here a problem bear was trapped in a live trap made of a chunk of large culvert with a spring door. Bait was hung in the trap attached to the trigger for the door. The bear entered the trap, grabbed the bacon and the door closed trapping the bear inside. Wildlife personnel then hooked up to the trap, which is on wheels, and carried the bear far away into the woods away from homes. The door to the trap was opened (always the tricky part) and the bear was free to leave and find a new home. At least that was the intention on the part of the wildlife personnel; the bears had another idea and made a beeline back to the spot where they got into trouble in the first place. What are fifty or sixty miles to a bear? They would be “home” in no time and back to raiding the garbage and birdfeeders. Eventually the idea of relocating bears was abandoned and our days of trapping bears came to an end. We were left with plenty of memories of the “old” days, though.

When a bear was trapped we always tried to get out immediately and relocate the bear so that the critter would not have to spend a long time in the trap. There was a dual purpose in this: of course we didn’t want the bear to suffer, but even in a short time a bear can make a real mess inside a trap. We had to clean out the trap and it is no joke to clean up after a bear has used a trap for its bathroom facility. I remember one big sow that we caught at a resort. It was a hot summer day and when we got out to haul the bear away we had a very unhappy sow on our hands. We drove her way out into the woods and prepared to release her. She was snarling and acting very aggressive, and since we had to unhook the door manually before she could get out it was a tense situation. Hubby gallantly elected to risk himself unhooking the door and sent me to the front of the trap to distract the bear. The sow was extremely crabby by this time and refused to be gently distracted so there was nothing I could do but clap my hands and yell at her. She swapped ends in a heartbeat and lunged at me preceded by a wave of waste that sloshed through the bars of the trap and covered me from head to foot. It was ghastly and I stank like the proverbial pig sty until I could get home (hours later) and shower. Hubby did get the trap unhooked, the bear got out and ran for the woods, but it was a long and stinky drive back – one which we will never, ever, forget to our dying day!

Another memorable experience involved a young bear that was foraging in garbage late in the season for bears. A trap was set and caught the bear…which proceeded to curl up and hibernate! The wildlife guys covered the bear well with straw and backed the trap into a garage stall at the office. The bear spent the winter with the DNR (Dept. of Natural Resources) and was released in the spring when it woke up. Not too many bears can brag of that experience!

Bears are a fact of life up here. I have been nearly run over by a bear (it was as surprised as I was), been challenged by bears (I backed off as gracefully as possible) and have enjoyed seeing bears up in trees eating acorns. The bruins are part of the world in which I live and even though they can be pesky at times I wouldn’t be without them.

Why do Hunters Hunt?

Hunter with a wild turkey she harvested

Minnesota has a rich hunting tradition that spans the state and makes each spring and fall a time for making memories. There is a great deal of anti-hunting sentiment these days, but I have found it to be largely the product of misunderstanding of hunting in general and ignorance concerning the role of hunting in wildlife management.

Too often hunters are portrayed as being heartless Bambi killers. True, there are some out there who call themselves hunters while being anything but; they are shooters and care little for their targets. But the vast majority of hunters are anything but heartless. They love and respect the animals they hunt, and those that I know or have had contact with are lovers of all animals. Some hunters are warm and fuzzy hearted to a fault. But hunters are also outdoors people and understand the role in nature of the animals they hunt. Hunters understand that encroaching civilization has upset the pristine balance of nature and has allowed some species to flourish while chasing out others. The most effective way of restoring this balance is through hunting, especially as it is generally the large predators who have suffered most from losing habitat. Loss of large predators has allowed animals like deer to reproduce at a rate their habitat cannot sustain. Many hunters have seen the effects of an uncontrolled animal population boom. It is not a pleasing sight to see animals that have suffered starvation or died from diseases caused by over population. Hunters take over the role of harvesting animals that had been harvested by large predators. By keeping the animal populations at a healthy level, hunters contribute to the health and well-being of the animals.

Another misconception about hunters is that they are in the woods and fields solely to kill animals. Nothing can be further from the truth. Hunters are in the woods because they love nature and all the sights, sounds and smells associated with it. Ask a deer hunter what he saw while sitting on his deer stand and you will be regaled with tales of chickadees, woodpeckers, squirrels, and the occasional sightings of other mammals. As an aside he or she may mention that no deer were seen, but it was a glorious day in the woods. Hunters are out to enjoy nature and filling the hunting tag is a bonus that means meat on the table.

In future posts I will be sharing stories of my own hunting and fishing experiences, most of which involve humorous or even ludicrous mistakes and the outcome from them. Anyone who thinks that filling a tag is simply a matter of walking out and firing a gun at a defenseless animal needs a refreshing dose of reality. Animals have keen senses and while they may not be able to shoot back they are very capable of taking care of themselves and making a hunter look inept.

To all those hunters out there, happy hunting!