Saturday, March 31, 2018

Daingerfield Island



Here is a picture of Daingerfield Island (which is not an island) on the Potomac River as viewed from the north.  

I’d like to dedicate this picture to the people who have left the Washington area to chase their dreams across the far horizons of the world . . . which sometimes seems like almost everyone whom I know.



Monday, March 12, 2018

The Pond Frog




Unlike the green of the last photo, this one is more brown.  It’s an American Bullfrog (Rana catesbeiana or Lithobates catesbeianus) in a drainage pond.  I took the picture at the beginning of September of last year. 

When one’s hobby is watching amphibians and (non-avian) reptiles in the wild in the temperate zone, there is an enforced period of inactivity in the colder months.  Birds, and thus bird watchers, are active all winter, but the reptiles and amphibians go into seasonal torpor.  In the Washington area the inactivity usually lasts (depending on variations in the weather) from some point in October to some point in March.  

And I have to admit that I kind of like this.  Something about being forced to take a rest appeals to me.  

But now the winter respite has come to an end.  A week ago I discovered that the Wood Frogs had already laid their eggs.