And There She Was…

August 12^th.  i turned into our drive and…

there she was, with her fawn.

Luckily this section of drive is down hill, so I turned off the engine and coasted down the drive, stopping periodically to take photos. This was the last one - zoomed, not that close up - before she decided that enough was enough, and took her fawn and left.

This has been a good year for White-tailed Deer in our area. This doe had a single fawn. Another doe that we see frequently had twins this year.

Reference.

NatureWorks: White-tailed Deer – Odocoileus virginianus

Green Frogs (Lithobates clamitans) In The Garden

July 2^nd – 9^th, 2016. A few years ago, we had to relocate a watergarden barrel during some renovations. I decided to move it back to its original location just recently.

The barrel had a couple of inches of wet leaf litter in the bottom. I tipped the leaf litter out onto the ground and moved the container to its new location. 

When I went back to get its bricks and plant container, I realized that a frog – a Green Frog (Lithobates clamitans) - was sitting in the leaf litter near my foot. I picked it up and placed it back into the barrel. Some duckweed, re=introduced into the container, soon spread over the water’s surface to provide cover. 

It wasn’t long before the frog was comfortable enough to climb out in the late afternoon and…

sit on the side of the barrel to hunt for insects. Its tympanum, much larger than its eye, indicates that it is a male.

Recently, he has also begun to hunt at various times during the day.

When he’s not sitting on the side of the barrel, he may often be found…

floating in the duckweed.

Occasionally, he will make its way to another shallow container to hunt.

Recently a second Green Frog has joined the first one in the container where I’ve seen them siting together on the edge of the barrel. 

Reference:

Savannah River Ecology Laboratory: Green/Bronze Frog (Rana [Lithbates] clamitans]

Mighty Hunters

June 27^th-30^th, 2016. I found a Cope’s Gray Treefrog (Hyla chrysoscelis) in mid-June. It had arrived near our water containers for the annual breeding season was chilling out on a window frame. Usually, that’s where we see them. Just hanging out. 

A few nights ago, I happened to look out closer to dark to find a couple actually…

hunting on the house wall. Their poses let me see the bright yellow color on the inside of their thighs that is a cardinal characteristic for identifying this species in this area. The patterns on their backs indicated that they were different frogs from the one I had seen in mid-June.

Reference.

Savannah River Ecology Laboratory. Cope’s Gray Treefrog (Hyla chrysoscelis) 

Related post: 

It’s That Time Of Year Again…

It’s That Time Of Year Again…

June 14^th, 2016. The breeding season for Cope’s Gray Treefrogs (Hyla chrysoscelis) has arrived again. These frogs like to breed in small pools of water and will use watergarden containers, of which we have several near the house. 

As the breeding season approaches, we’ll often hear soft, chirping calls as they settle in near the containers. This year was no exception and prompted us to check the window frames on the front of the house where we’ll often find one or two encamped.

This young frog – judging by its size – was hunting insects on the side of a window frame.

I caught it and it managed to wiggle free. I was, however, able to hold it so that I could photograph the…

bright yellow color on the inside of its thigh. This color serves as a key characteristic for distinguishing a Cope’s Gray Treefrog from a Bird-voice Treefrog (Hyla avivoca) in areas where both species are endemic.

Although the frog was desperate to wriggle free from my grasp, once free, it was quite content to…

sit on my hand and pose for photos from several angles. Perhaps it was enjoying the warmth of my hand because it was reluctant to…

return to the window frame.

Sure enough, within a couple of days the frogs began their raucous mating calls and eggs are visible in some of the water containers.

Reference. 

Savannah River Ecology Laboratory. Cope’s Gray Treefrog (Hyla chrysoscelis)

Carolina Jessamine (Gelsemium sempervirens)

March 24^th.  Carolina Jessamine (Gelsemium sempervirens) is one of the earliest blooming wildflowers in our area. The vines are unobtrusive, either crawling across the ground and climbing anything within reach, or high up in tall trees where it’s impossible to appreciate their flowers. 

This vine made the mistake of climbing up a small pine and hanging down within arm’s reach. Its blooms were unusually dense along the terminal end of the vine. 

So beautiful!

Reference: 

Native and Naturalized Plants of the Carolinas and Georgia: Gelsemium sempervirens

American Toads (Anaxyrus americanus) & Eggs

March 9^th. A creek runs behind our home. Periodically the floodplain above it floods during heavy rains. In either December or January, Upland Chorus frogs (Pseudacris feriarum) breed in shallow water containers around the house. It occurred to us that, if we dug a pond on the floodplain above the creek, we could encourage Upland Chorus frogs to breed there. 

So, W has been digging a shallow pond, expanding it during the dry summer months. It’s not particularly pretty, but it has been a success, and for more than just the chorus frogs.

On a recent walk during the middle of the day, I found a…

pair of American Toads (Anaxyrus americanus) in amplexus (laying/fertilizing eggs) in the pond. The female is noticeably larger than the male.

They had obviously been at work for a considerable period of time. 

The eggs are laid in gelatinous strands. The gelatinous material is not visible around recently laid eggs, but absorbs water and swells to become clearly visible as sand attaches to it. This material will protect the eggs against dessication if the water level in the pond drops too low before the eggs hatch and the tadpoles can swim into deeper water. 

I made my way around the pond and found enlarged gelatin tubes from at least two to three previous rounds of egg laying. 

American Taods may lay several thousand eggs. Eggs may take up to two weeks to hatch and transformation from tadpoles to adults in about to months.  They reach reproductive age in two to three years. 

Here’s hoping we have a healthy populations of American Toads in our area before too long. 

Reference:

Savahhan River Ecology Laboratory: American Toad (Bufo [Anaxyrus]americanus).

Common Evening Primrose (Oenothera biennis)

August 25^th. The Common Evening Primrose (Oenothera biennis) is the last of the Oenothera sp. to bloom each year. They usually appear as individual or clusters of tall, slender stems covered with blooms along roads. This plant, however, caught my attention because it was a bush with many branches.

Several flowers at the top of the bush.

The bush. It was about 6 feet tall. Its stem was approximately 1.5 inches at the base and it had many branches.

The flowers are approximately 1 inch across with 4 petals that are notched at their tips and 8 stamens. 

Its 4 sepals are reflexed (bent back) against the stem. 

Its leaves (photographed on a different plant) are lanceolate and arranged alternately along the stem. 

This bush was growing next to a barbed wire fence where it escaped the autumn roadside mowing. I’m looking forward to enjoying it for many years to come - although it may be removed when the bridge on GA-11 over the Apalachee River is replaced in a couple of years.

Identification resources:  

- Native and Naturalized Plants of the Carolinas and Georgia. Oenothera biennis (Common Evening Primrose)

American Caesar’s Mushroom (Amanita jacksonii)

August 25^th. I was driving home when I spotted a cluster of mushrooms at the edge of the woods by the road. I knew immediately that they were Caesar’s Amanita (Amanita jacksonii) mushrooms. What surprised me was the size of the largest one. Its cap was 7 to 8 inches in diameter, the largest I had ever seen.

The cluster, from different angles.

The caps of the buds are oval. As they open, the caps become convex, then flat, and finally depressed as are the larger mushrooms in this cluster.

The caps of these mushrooms are solid red, without any scales. Mature caps on these mushrooms have marked striations from the margin towards the center.

Their gills are yellow and crowded, and free from their stems.

Their stems taper slightly from the base to the top and are yellow (or orange) with orange-red fibers, often in zones. Stems have a yellow-to-orange ‘skirtlike’ ring. In addition, one of the most striking things about this mushroom is that the remains of the volva – the membrane that encases the growing mushroom – are often visible at the base of the stem, even when the mushroom is mature. 

These mushrooms may be found east of the Great Plains in the United States where they have a mycorrhizal relationship with the roots oaks and pines. They fruit in summer and fall.

Identification resources: 

- Michael Kuo, MushroomExpert.com: Amanita jacksonii 

- Roger’s Mushrooms: Amanita jacksonii 

Related posts:  

- American Caesar’s Mushroom (Amanitajacksonii)?

- American Caesar’s Mushroom (Amanita jacksonii) Revsited

- Still More American Caesar’s Mushroom (Amanita jacksonii)

Mantis Bath Time

August 19th. I found another Chinese Mantis and, after photographing it…

‘the normal way,’ I placed it on the wall of the house. You know how cats often groom themselves after you’ve handled them. Well, this mantis did the same thing.

First, it wiped an antenna, then…

It cleaned one of its front legs, and then…

It hooked its hind leg with one of its front legs to clean it. 

Then back to the hunt.

Related post: 

- When The Model Takes Over The Photoshoot

Southern Grapefern (Botrychium biternatum)

August 13^th. I was wandering along the trail on the ledge above our creek photographing fungi. I sat down by a fallen branch to photograph some brackets. I was concentrating so intently that I almost missed the…

fern that blended in with the greenery around it.

The leaves told me it was the Southern Grapefern (Botrychium biternatum).

Closer views of the sporangia (spore packets). 

These ferns have a single sterile frond and a single fertile frond that bears the sporangia (spore packets). The sterile frond is divided into three segments on each side of the stem; the margins of the segments are serrulate. 

The fronds are joined at the base, sometimes below ground level, and sometimes just above ground level.

In this case, they were joined just above ground level.

On September 6^th, the sporangia were ripening and becoming brown in color. Hopefully, we may have more ferns grow in this area.

References: 

- Georgia Native Plant Society. Southern grape fern (Botrychium biternatum) 

- Native & Naturalized Plants of the Carolinas & Georgia: Southern Grapefern (Botrychium biternatum)