Are You Looking at Me?

I Toad You Not To...
A frog is a small tailless amphibian animal. They have smooth, moist skin, long hind legs, webbed feet, and bulging eyes. As amphibians, frogs live in water during the first part of their lives and in or near water as adults. Frogs are good swimmers and can make long jumps. Frogs spend more of their time in water than their close relative, toads.
Very much like a frog, toads are also small tailless amphibians, but they have dry, rough skin. When grown, toads live mostly on land.
Frogs and toads comprise the order Anura, or Salientia, one of the three main groups of amphibians. There are about 3,500 known species of frogs and 300 kinds of toads. They are found on every continent except Antarctica. Some types spend their entire life in or near water, but others live mainly on land and come to the water only to mate. A few other species never enter the water. Some frogs and toads are climbers that dwell in trees or burrowers that live underground.
Generally, toads have a broader, flatter body and darker, drier, bumpy skin than most frogs. Toads also have shorter, less powerful back legs. 
Toads have a pair of parotoid glands located on the top of their heads. These glands produce a poison that can make people ill or cause eye irritation. Some frogs have poison glands that oozes onto their skin. If an enemy grabs the frog, the poison repels the predator.
Frogs and toads are cold-blooded animals; their bodies are the same temperature as their surroundings. 
They avoid direct sunlight and heat and are more active at night or on rainy days. Bulging eyes give them fairly good eyesight with the ability to see in almost any direction. Most frogs also have a thin, partly clear inner eyelid called the nictitating membrane. This membrane can move upward, covering and protecting their eyes without completely blocking their vision. 
Most frogs hear sounds via the tympanum or eardrum disk, that is located behind each eye. Their sense of touch is also well developed, especially in those species living in water. Frogs call out to each other, mainly during the mating season. 
Toads and frogs have a long, sticky tongue that is hinged at the front of the mouth, allowing it to rapidly flip out and capture insect prey.

The Frogs and Toads of North America: A Comprehensive Guide to Their Identification,Behavior, and Calls

Source: http://42explore.com/frogs.htm

Daddy Long Legs

Opiliones
Daddy Long Legs (Harvestmen)

Harvestmen are arachnids belonging to the order Opiliones (formerly Phalangida). As of 2006, over 6,400 species of harvestmen have been discovered worldwide, although the real number of extant species may exceed 10,000. 

The order Opiliones can be divided into four suborders: Cyphophthalmi, Eupnoi, Dyspnoi and Laniatores. 
Well-preserved fossils have been found in the 400-million year old Rhynie cherts of Scotland, which look surprisingly modern, indicating that the basic structure of the harvestmen has not changed much since then.

 Phylogenetic position is disputed: their closest relatives may be the mites (Acari) or the Novogenuata (the Scorpiones, Pseudoscorpiones and Solifugae).  
In some places, harvestmen are known by the name "daddy longlegs" or "granddaddy longlegs", but this name is also used for two other unrelated arthropods: the crane fly (Tipulidae) and the cellar spider (Pholcidae).
Although they belong to the class of arachnids, harvestmen are not spiders, which are of the order Araneae rather than the order Opiliones.

To view a larger image please click here.

Harvestmen: The Biology of Opiliones
Source: wikipedia

Black and Yellow Garden Spider

The spider species Argiope aurantia is commonly known as the Black and Yellow Garden Spider, Writing Spider, Banana Spider or Corn Spider. It is common to the lower 48 of the United States, Hawaii, southern Canada, Mexico, and Central America. They have distinctive yellow and black markings on their abdomens and a mostly white cephalothorax. 
Males range from 5 to 9 mm (0.2-0.35"); females from 19 to 28 mm (0.75-1.1"). Like other members of Argiope they are considered harmless to humans.

Spectacular Spiders

Spiders of North America: Brown Recluse Spider, Cheiracanthium Inclusum, Argiope Aurantia, Hobo Spider, Mexican Redknee Tarantula


Source:  wikipedia

Winter

An image captured last January, 2010.  It reminds me what a long, cold and snowy winter we experienced.  Then, this summer was the hottest, most humid on record.  Many, many 90 plus days.  I remember seeing on television, in the fall of 2009, that people were finding these almost white to solid white wooly worms and that these were a sign of an upcoming cold and snowy winter.  I guess they were right.  We also experienced a weird wind storm (Autumn 2008) and an incredible ice storm (early 2009), so we have had our share of incredible weather in the last couple of years.  

I nervously ponder what is in store for us this winter.

God Bless Us All

Image by M Smith

Climate Change: Picturing the Science

Caterpillars of Eastern North America: A Guide to Identification and Natural History (Princeton Field Guides)

The Garden in Winter: Plant for Beauty and Interest in the Quiet Season

Canadian Goose

The Canada Goose  is a wild goose belonging to the genus Branta, which is native to arctic and temperate regions of North America, having a black head and neck, white patches on the face, and a brownish-gray body. It is often called the Canadian Goose, but that name is not the ornithological standard, or the most common name.

(Branta Canadensis)

The black head and neck with white "chinstrap" distinguish the Canada Goose from all other goose species, with the exception of the Barnacle Goose, but the latter has a black breast, and also grey, rather than brownish, body plumage.  There are seven subspecies of this bird, of varying sizes and plumage details, but all are recognizable as Canada Geese. Some of the smaller races can be hard to distinguish from the newly-separated Cackling Goose.

This species is native to North America. It breeds in Canada and the northern United States in a variety of habitats. Its nest is usually located in an elevated area near water such as streams, lakes, ponds and sometimes on a beaver lodge. Its eggs are laid in a shallow depression lined with plant material and down. The Great Lakes region maintains a very large population of Canada Geese.  
The life span in the wild is 10–24 years.

By the early 20th century, over-hunting and loss of habitat in the late 1800s and early 1900s had resulted in a serious decline in the numbers of this bird in its native range.

The Giant Canada Goose subspecies was believed to be extinct in the 1950s until, in 1962, a small flock was discovered wintering in Rochester, Minnesota, by Harold Hanson of the Illinois Natural History Survey. 
With improved game laws and habitat recreation and preservation programs, their populations have recovered in most of their range, although some local populations, especially of the subspecies occidentalis, may still be declining.

In recent years, Canada Geese populations in some areas have grown substantially, so much so that many consider them pests (for their droppings, the bacteria in their droppings, noise and confrontational behavior).
This problem is partially due to the removal of natural predators and an abundance of safe, man-made bodies of water (such as on golf courses, public parks and beaches, and in planned communities).


Migration of lesser Snow and Blue Geese
The Canadian goose and how to raise the young
Distribution and Migration of North American Ducks, Geese, and Swans
Source:  Wikipedia

Spicebush Swallowtail

Adults can be identified by their spoon-shaped tails and by their bright green (male) or iridescent blue (female) hind-wings. Ivory spots may be visible on the forewings, and orange spots may appear on the hindwings. Wingspan may be 3 to 4 inches.

Papilio Troilus

The Spicebush Swallowtail is found only in the Eastern US and extreme southern Ontario, with occasional strays in the American Midwest and even Cuba.

Habitat

This primarily black swallowtail is normally found in deciduous woods or woody swamps, where they can be found flying low and fast through shaded areas.

 Life cycle:

Spicebush Swallowtail caterpillar:

The caterpillars live in folded leaf shelters and eat the leaves of the sassafras or spicebush. The caterpillars make nests of the leaves by spinning silk and curling the leaf up. They mostly hide in the nest in the daytime and come out at night to eat. Because of this it is more difficult to follow when they molt and keep track of which instar they are in. They make the nest by laying down silk on the leaf that they want to curl up. You can see them doing this, they start moving their heads back and forth while moving along the leaf. Eventually the silk dries and cause the leaf to curl/fold up. When younger the caterpillars tend to eat away part of the leaf and just fold over a flap of it. As they get bigger they fold over an entire leaf.

 Adults consume a variety of nectars, including those from azalea, Japanese honeysuckle, milkweed, and thistle flowers.

Both sexes are thought to be edible mimics of the distasteful Pipevine Swallowtail.
Wiki

The Butterflies of North America: A Natural History and Field Guide

Red Spotted Purple

                        Limenitis Arthemis

Wing span: 2 1/4 to 4 inches
Caterpillar hosts plants:
Leaves of apple, Malus; aspen, cottonwood and poplar, Populus; basswood, Tillia; birch, Betula; deerberry, Vaccinium; hawthorn, Crataegus; hornbeam, Carpinus; oaks, Quercus; serviceberry, Amelanchier; wild cherry, Prunus; willows, Salix
Adult food:
Carion, dung, rotting fruit, sap flows, occasionally nectar of small white flowers including, privet, Ligustrum; spirea, Spiraea; viburnum, Virburnum
Habitat:
Deciduous or mixed forests, moist uplands, valley bottoms
Notes:
Mimic poisonous pipevine swalowtail, males perch 3 feet or more above the ground to locate females, rarely patrol for females, hibernates as third stage caterpillar, females lay eggs singly on tips of host plant leaves, caterpillar appearance mimics bird droppings.

A World Of Butterflies

Franz Red Spotted Purple Butterfly Porcelain Cup & Saucer Set