The local hike and all 5 frogs.

Dedicated exclusively to field herping.

Moderator: Scott Waters

Post Reply
User avatar
Owen
Posts: 1924
Joined: June 11th, 2010, 12:35 am
Location: San Jose', Northern Catcrapistan

The local hike and all 5 frogs.

Post by Owen »

Starting out with a fun little CA Toad vid:



Bullfrog trying not to be seen:

Image

CA Toadlets and Sierran Chorus Frog:

Image

CA Red-legged Frog:

Image

Diablo Range Gartersnake with a fat Red-legged tadpole:

Image

One little, two little, three little Red-legged
Four little, five little, six little Red-legged
Seven little, eight little, nine little Red-legged
Ten little Red-legged Frogs:

Image

Foothill Yellow-legged Frog:

Image

and tadpoles:

Image

Other stuff on the crawl:



Can winter be coming already???
Image

The cooler weather gets the Happy Dog Seal of Approval :thumb:
Image
hellihooks
Posts: 8025
Joined: June 8th, 2010, 8:12 am
Location: Hesperia, California.
Contact:

Re: The local hike and all 5 frogs.

Post by hellihooks »

I count 4 frogs (and 1 toad) :crazyeyes: 2 of your frogs would, however, be lifers for me, so please disregard my anal retentiveness... :lol: :lol: :lol: :thumb:
User avatar
Brian Hubbs
Posts: 4735
Joined: June 7th, 2010, 11:41 am
Location: "Buy My Books"-land

Re: The local hike and all 5 frogs.

Post by Brian Hubbs »

I only see 9 red-legs in that pic. where's #10?
User avatar
Owen
Posts: 1924
Joined: June 11th, 2010, 12:35 am
Location: San Jose', Northern Catcrapistan

Re: The local hike and all 5 frogs.

Post by Owen »

Brian Hubbs wrote:I only see 9 red-legs in that pic. where's #10?
Far left side, in the puddle and barely sticking out of the grass clump.
User avatar
Owen
Posts: 1924
Joined: June 11th, 2010, 12:35 am
Location: San Jose', Northern Catcrapistan

Re: The local hike and all 5 frogs.

Post by Owen »

hellihooks wrote:I count 4 frogs (and 1 toad) :crazyeyes: 2 of your frogs would, however, be lifers for me, so please disregard my anal retentiveness... :lol: :lol: :lol: :thumb:
Which would those be? The 2 Rana?
hellihooks
Posts: 8025
Joined: June 8th, 2010, 8:12 am
Location: Hesperia, California.
Contact:

Re: The local hike and all 5 frogs.

Post by hellihooks »

Owen wrote:
hellihooks wrote:I count 4 frogs (and 1 toad) :crazyeyes: 2 of your frogs would, however, be lifers for me, so please disregard my anal retentiveness... :lol: :lol: :lol: :thumb:
Which would those be? The 2 Rana?
yes... very hard to find down here, and never seen one up there... :shock: I'm hosting a couple of frog researchers (married couple with child) from Canada out at deep creek next week for arroyo, treefrogs etc... after which their headed up the coast to Vancouver (ultimately) but next stop bay area... be awful nice if some nor cal member could show them some lifers up your way... :beer: :crazyeyes:
NACairns
Posts: 372
Joined: December 30th, 2013, 7:27 am

Re: The local hike and all 5 frogs.

Post by NACairns »

Great stuff. I love the predation shot, was it successful? Were the tadpoles species sharing habitat? Foothills yellow legged are in moving water typically, right? Can't wait to get down there Jim, for all the cool species. Any advice on herping Northern Cal would be most welcome.
Best,
Nick
User avatar
Owen
Posts: 1924
Joined: June 11th, 2010, 12:35 am
Location: San Jose', Northern Catcrapistan

Re: The local hike and all 5 frogs.

Post by Owen »

NACairns wrote:Great stuff. I love the predation shot, was it successful? Were the tadpoles species sharing habitat? Foothills yellow legged are in moving water typically, right? Can't wait to get down there Jim, for all the cool species. Any advice on herping Northern Cal would be most welcome.
Best,
Nick
Toads, Chorus Frogs, Bullfrogs and Red-legged Frogs will share the same pond. The garter eating the Red-legged tadpole is in a pond shared with Bullfrogs. My guess is that the pond will dry up in the next month and since it's the second consecutive year of that happening, the adult Bullfrog population is about a third the size from last year. They may become extinct at this pond since the tadpoles take 2 seasons to transform here and the adult population is quickly shrinking. That said, the young Red-legged are found on the edge of the shore to maybe 6ft away in the grass. I also saw them about 50 ft from the pond in a pig created puddle. The bullfrogs stay from the shoreline to mid pond.

The Yellow-legged will share the creek with Red-legged. The Red-legged occupy deeper pools in more shaded areas. The Yellow-legged love the sunny, rocky spots. Adult Red-legged can be seen under cuts in the bank or shaded rock crevices while adult Yellow-legged will be basking on rocks or open bank within a jump of the water.

These are from the same creek about 10 yards apart:

Image

I never saw the garter again after it got air and went back under.
NACairns
Posts: 372
Joined: December 30th, 2013, 7:27 am

Re: The local hike and all 5 frogs.

Post by NACairns »

Great shots. Are those in situ or posed? I love being able to see the lateral line on the draytonii. Thanks for the information, I'll be paying close attention to puddles an creeks on the way up. Glad to hear bullfrogs are at least getting a beating with this drought you guys are going through.
Nick
User avatar
Owen
Posts: 1924
Joined: June 11th, 2010, 12:35 am
Location: San Jose', Northern Catcrapistan

Re: The local hike and all 5 frogs.

Post by Owen »

NACairns wrote:Great shots. Are those in situ or posed? I love being able to see the lateral line on the draytonii. Thanks for the information, I'll be paying close attention to puddles an creeks on the way up. Glad to hear bullfrogs are at least getting a beating with this drought you guys are going through.
Nick
I rarely pose stuff for anything other than a voucher type shot to get the entire animal in. Frogs are great because they pose for you! I screw a dome on the front of my lens to do the under water tadpole shots.

A very typical Yellow-legged shot. They'll jump in the water and then crawl back out in front of you. It's nice of them because of the CA SSC status making them no touch:

Image
User avatar
Porter
Posts: 2418
Joined: March 19th, 2011, 7:43 pm

Re: The local hike and all 5 frogs.

Post by Porter »

Excellent photography :beer: A pleasure to see. It's been awhile
User avatar
Speckled Rosy
Posts: 308
Joined: June 11th, 2010, 12:07 pm
Location: Canyon country, Ca

Re: The local hike and all 5 frogs.

Post by Speckled Rosy »

Nice outing! and the yellow legged frogs, sweet!

-Dan
Post Reply