Saturday 26 April 2014

Sights and sounds of the season

I was outside, digging up rocks for the garden. I have to do it now, before the grasses grow and cover them. I found a lovely pink-coloured rock, buried in some sand, which you can see surrounding the salamander. Perhaps a dump from glaciation. Normally, our rocks are boring, white limestone!
I discovered two critters: a salamander (blue spotted: Ambystoma laterale) and a tree frog, both bury themselves for the winter. I felt badly and buried them again.
You can report amphibian sightings to Ontario Atlas.
It's been a long, cold winter for many critters. They'll be happy when (if?) it warms up. This wee tree, transplanted from the bog two years ago, has been chewed by the field mice.

Field mouse that got away from Daisy

Huge teeth - this one didn't get away

claws



Red-winged blackbird from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.
I love watching them. The red-winged blackbirds have been busy, too.
The noise is the OPP, who are recertifying at the range 500m away. This is an annual thing. Daisy doesn't like it. Normally they do these tests in summer, when the foliage protects us from the sounds. They stand in a line of 12 or so, and fire for 10 seconds, all at the same time. At first, we thought it sounded like rapid fire guns, but they all start at once, stop, and try again. They have to hit the targets or they fail. Apparently, they lose sleep over it. The pressure to perform must be tough. They also provide some updated training, to keep them in top form.
Saturday's Critters
Visit more critters: #21. I created the logo for Eileen!

13 comments:

eileeninmd said...

Love the cute frog and salamander! The mouse is just adorable..the guns in the video remind me of our neighbors practicing..great post! Thanks for sharing your post with my critter party. Have a happy weekend!

TexWisGirl said...

we have neighbors that do have rapid-fire weapons and they practice a lot.

love your salamander!

Naquillity said...

i can't believe how big those teeth are in that field mouse. i'm sure Daisy didn't approve of that one mouse getting away so the next one wasn't as lucky, huh? truly enjoyed your images. hope all is well. have a great day~

Margaret Birding For Pleasure said...

HI Great selection of critters for this post. Have a wonderful weekend.

Karen said...

Cute little mouse!

Powell River Books said...

It's great to see all the critters coming out, but we are having a bit of a mouse explosion. Tried using mothballs and dryer sheets to some success. - Margy

sunshine said...

Can imagine that your hard winter was a torture for amphibians, great to see them alive.

William Kendall said...

It shouldn't surprise me that mice have such large teeth!

Red said...

I really like your sights of the season but you can keep the sounds!

Snap said...

wow ... look at those teeth! I'm partial to frogs and toads! Happy Critter Day!

EG CameraGirl said...

WOW! Look at those teeth!

Unknown said...

I like the salamander and the frog. I've been watching frogs here too finding them by their sound.

Kay said...

I've never seen a salamander in the wild. You have so much wildlife in your area. We did have red-wing blackbirds in Illinois and I loved seeing them.