Clear Cuts are a ROARING with treefrogs!

[Kyle Barker]

yeesh. pacific treefrogs have been doing their thing for a few weeks now. the clearcuts by the house are just raging with noise. i gott akeep my window closed sometimes.

its killing me, i want to go out but im always busy on weekends and after work im too tired. one day after work this week im going to make a point of walking that whoping half km and take some pics! i'll update when i do.

hoping on finding some red legs too. last year when i went there in early winter there were a few frogies and we hear and saw a red back calling. let me tell you, untill you know what it is you are freaked RIGHT out when in the middle of a forest in the middle of the night lol.

[Jeff_Favelle]

Red-leggeds are weird eh? They also have the dual vocal sacs out the sides (ala ranids). Totally cool.

Better get and see it man. 'Cause as you well know, one day they just stop and that's it. All gone.

Take pics. I'm going to.

[marisa]

When I lived in California the frogs living near my house were so loud at night that not only did we need to shut with windows but my Dad had to actually buy ear plugs because the noise was really too much some nights.

The worst was when I'd get totally frustrated and yell like a idiot "SHUT UP FROGS!" out the bedroom window. ......all would be silent for about 45 seconds...then one would start and BAM they all start going again! Grrrr!!!!

Good luck catching some cool ones.

Marisa

[morph]

Yep Ive got a couple ponds at my place that are litterly crawling with the buggers 1000's of em it's the loudest thing you've ever heard. Thank god they are aways from my house or there would be no sleep here.

Scott

[Kyle Barker]

lol, it can be annoying but knowing that you have that many kick *** frogs in your back yard is realyl pleasing to me! my dads place has a pond right by the house, needless to say its loud. 1 loan cricket will keep me up for days, but 1000's of tree frogs completely clear my head. i love it.

anyway im going out right now, jsut ened to get some warm clothes on. this will be my first real test of dark pic with my new cam :) i'll post whatever comes of this in a couple hours.


wow thats WEIRD, this post was a reply to marks post below....LOL!

[crimsonking]

Funny, I bet it will be hard to sleep WITHOUT their calls as well.
Careful what you wish for!! HA!
With all the problems the amphibians are having these days, it's good to know some are still croakin'.
:Mark

[Kyle Barker]

for sure man! in fact last fall i found a very very large and very healthy population of red legged frogs. best part being, no signs of cats or bull frogs! safe for now.

well this was kind of a bust...i fogot my backup lights and this damned light only seems to last 20 mins or so (one of those yellow coleman halogen suckers). anyway i didnt get very many pics, but there were TONS of them out! heard a couple red leggeds out there but not many. some birds decided to try their hand at giving me a heart attack.

anyway after a long slow stumble back to the car here are a couple pics.

http://www.ssnakess.com/photopost/data/500/464DSCN1012-med.jpg
http://www.ssnakess.com/photopost/data/500/464DSCN0993-med.jpg

[Jeff_Favelle]

Perfect!!! Look at all the eggs in the 2nd photo!

As you know, Red-leggeds are SUPER elusive at this time of year. They are like greased lightning. I've only every captured them during the lazy days of summer. Going up to Sooke this summer to photograph a neat little population of super orange ones. They co-exist with a HUGE population of Long-Toed Salamanders as well. Should be some good shots.

Great photos man.

[Jeff_Favelle]

What forest is that in your avatar? Wish I had a digi-cam in my younger days when I was trapsing around in all the local forests! LOL!!!

[Kyle Barker]

ya that when i usually catch them too! if your ever up shawnigan way i can show you some spots with tons, but im sure you get your fill :D

out at koksilah park along the river there are tons....TONS. i was hiking up the river with my head in the clouds and i dont even know how many i almost stepped on.

that stand of trees is between shawnigan and cowichan lake. like seemingly every other older forest it is marked to be clear cut :( getting pretty tired of watching all teh places i hike get cut down!

anyway ya. if you ever wana go herping or hiking just shoot me a line! and if you could possibly give a location on them sallies, private if you like, i would be very greatfull!!! i have the WORST luck with salamanders/newts...except red backs or course. im going to be checking out a few spots in victoria this coming weekend to see if them wall lizards are out, i suspect they are with this warm feb. i saw an alligator lizard on teh summit of the malahat the weekend after new years! was the first herp of the year for me, and it was a lizard! its never a lizard :D

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v478/kada/Picture-203.jpg

[Jeff_Favelle]

Its NEVER a lizard, I agree. Not until May or June at least, LOL!

I got 4 or 5 Rough-skinned hot spots now. For sure. As for the Long-toeds, man, they are where you'd LEAST suspect them. Back in Grade 10, I found a creek out near the ferry terminal (near Wain Road) and I caught some larvae, thinking they were Rough-skinneds. I grew them up and they turned out to be Long-toeds! And man were they vicious eaters!! Pretty damn cool to find them, considering that it was in a nothing-creek on the side of the road and because they are SUPER rare now in the coastal US. I guess up here we are still pretty lucky to have them.

Should totally go herping mid-island sometime. You know, in 10,000 years, the populations of Red-leggeds your catching from and the population I'm catching from, could totally be different species! Its not like their breeding together.

Weird.

[Jeff_Favelle]

Oh yeah, when/if Jules Sylvester comes up, he may come for a herp hunt with us. We should totally hook up then man. We can hit like 100 hotspots on the Island in a day!!

[Kyle Barker]

rough skins....them be some pretty wicked looking animals. i always sorta pictured them as teh burnout highschool kid of the herp world :D

I will try and get to wain road this weekend. bought a new truck, so i must play first! i totally agree. i have gone to some pretty far out places and seen/heard NO herps, then i can find red legs in a stream running through a couple dozen farms.....whack.

lol, i suppose they could be different species, its always mind blowing getting into that area of discussion. my main thougth about that sort of thing are those wall lizards. they are way outa range, im wondering when they may be considered a sub species or even a diff species in teh future. be iteresting to get compare the native ones, ours, and the ohio ones to see if there are already any differences. its been what, 30ish years here? 50+ in ohio. things could maybe start changing? anyway, i just dream a lot...

who is jules sylvester? your mentioning makes me think i should know... the more the merrier!

im good for herping anytime man. i work weekdays but if you ever want to make a thing of it i am totally willign to blow off work for a few days to go for some good herping. not a second thought :)

[morph]

Hey that sounds great guys thanks for the invite:D :D


Scott

[Jeff_Favelle]

Oh damn, there goes the trip.....................



;)

[morph]

Well I guess me and my sandwiches will just stay home then:D

[Oliverian]

Oh man, you can't leave out the sandwiches!


That first pic is neat looking, did you alter it or did it just have that reddy wash when you took it?

-TammyR

[Jeff_Favelle]

Hmmmm....ok, what KIND of sandwiches then George?

[Kyle Barker]

LOL, jeffs a meanie. dont worry, hes not coming to my birthday party! :D

olive, i never cahnge any of my pics. personally i dont like the idea of altering pics other than size (which i did crop cause they are WAY too big for the net). seems kinda fake to me.

found a red back sally at work today....about 15 feet away from teh VERY leaky kerosene tank.....i released it at home as a construction site probably wouldnt serve a very good home for long.