The Daily Bucket is a place where we post and exchange our observations about what is happening in the natural world in our neighborhood. Each note about the bugs, buds, and birds around us is a record that we can refer to in the future as we try to understand the patterns of nature that are quietly unwinding around us.
The temps here in mid Missouri have been near, at, or above a hundred degrees Fahrenheit for the past two weeks with more of the same predicted for the next week. This would be a bit above normal even for late July or early August, but for June, it is completely off the charts. May and June are both going down in the record books for hottest and driest on record. Our yard is brown and parched. I haven't mowed the grass since early May and even the weeds aren't growing much. Brush fires have been keeping the volunteer Firemen in the surrounding communities very busy. An hours drive south of me the Mark Twain National Forest is on fire as I write this. From the news report it does sound like they've got a handle on it and have it under control now but the next one is just waiting for a tossed cigarette or careless camper or unattended burn barrel. It is fortunate that there was no wind to drive this one or it could have burned thousands of acres instead of hundreds. I don't like thinking about what things will be like here a month or two from now.
This heat has to be hard on the wildlife, or most of it anyway. We still have a good variety of birds that visit our feeders and bird baths every day but they sure aren't wasting any energy singing. Dragon flies patrol the yard ponds in good numbers but the frogs that would normally be hanging out there waiting for the chance to turn one into dinner have disappeared. The ponds have very little shade, a shortcoming that we are working on now, and I think the frogs and toads have moved into the woods for some shade in search of a cooler environment. The only frogs that I've been hearing are the bullfrogs and occasionally a green frog will give a half hearted call or two. But this morning just before dawn I was sitting on the back porch and was surprised to hear a single lone toad calling. I haven't heard one since early May. His call got me to reminiscing about the cool spring nights that were filled with the singing of several different species of frogs and toads. Can't change the weather so I guess I'll have to settle for pulling up some pics that I took earlier this year.
We had as many as two dozen American toads at one time in the main yard pond this spring. Their singing drowned out even the spring peepers for a few nights. Those numbers are normal here for a few days every spring. They call each other to the pond, do their thing and then scatter all over the yard, leaving strings of eggs behind in the water. A couple weeks later we normally start seeing swarms of little black tadpoles.A few weeks after that we start seeing little toads everywhere as they transform into tiny reproductions of their parents. So many that I worry about stepping on them as I walk around the yard. This year they laid their eggs as normal but as near as I can tell there wasn't a one that hatched. This spring the weather fluctuations were off the wall. One day it would be in the eighties and a few days later it would drop below freezing at night. This went on for most of April and I believe the toad eggs couldn't survive in those conditions. Only guessing on that, but for one reason or another we raised zero toads this year compared to the hundreds that we usually do.
Here is a mating pair that shows the differences in colors that the toads may come in. The male on top is typical of most, with some a bit darker or lighter but close to that color. The female under him is much redder than most but I do see a few of them like that every year.
Here is another that is a bit darker than average.
Toads aren't the only amphibians that come in a variety of colors. Some frogs do as well. Here is a typical Southern leopard frog.
And another but with a little less green.
This one I'm not sure about. He wasn't one of our backyard pond residents. I found him in the parking lot one night at a nearby lake. He allowed me one picture and with two huge jumps was gone into the tall grass surrounding the pavement. I thought it was another SLF when I found him but after I got to looking at the pics of him I now think that he may be a Pickerel Frog. According to the info I could gather on the internet the SLFs don't have the more squarish spots that this guy sports. What do you think? I'm not sure........
Cricket frogs come in all kinds of color variations. All are mostly some shade of brown, ranging from dark brown down to light tan. Most, but not quite all, sport a darker triangular shape on the top of their heads. And most, but again not all, have either a green or a reddish orange marking on their back. Here are some examples of each of these,
Green Frogs don't come in big color varitions that I've seen but there are small differences in how dark or light they are. This one is typical for this area.
But I've seen many that are a bit greener looking, more like this guy.
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Bull Frogs all look very much alike but over the years I have noticed variations in the amount and shade of yellow and white on their throats and bellies . I don't have any pics of examples of this though. Here is a typical looking one. Another thing I've noticed over the years is that I am seeing less and less really big ones.
A few short weeks ago there were literally hundreds of spring peepers calling from every road ditch, pond and creek within hearing distance of my back porch. I went to pull a couple pics of them and found I only had one. Not sure how I managed to only save one but here he is. Almost all are carbon copies of each other , all a light tan overall color with a darker x crisscrossing their back.
And finishing my list of backyard frogs is this guy. They are pretty quiet now compared to a few weeks ago but they still sound off now and then. They seem to know when rain is coming and often I've noticed that their calling often picks up when rain is on the way. Sure would like to hear them talking about that right now.