Sleepy leopard frogs!

Nicely camouflaged!

The leaves are frozen in the ice.
Froggie is not!

This past week the pond froze over in the cold November nights (Daisy was tip toeing on it Nov. 13th).

Depending upon the day temperatures, it tends to thaw a bit or a lot.

Sometime the sun shines, hinting that it hasn't gone away, just taking a break.

Extreme close-up: under the ice,
dreaming of spring.

This little leopard frog was at the edge of the goldfish pond, under several mm of ice. Later in the day, the pond thawed some in the sun. Froggy had taken off into the deep, nestling itself in the mud in the bottom.

Frogs seem to appreciate my pond. My faithful readers know that Geraldine bullfrog was safely sleeping in the mud.

Three days after I'd built my pond, we had 8 leopard frogs hanging out. It was quite a process, building the goldfish pond.

Daisy couldn't figure out where the ice had gone.

This morning, saturday, with anticipated temperatures of 13 C., I knew they'd be about.

She spotted the leopard frog

Geraldine bullfrog sleepeth not this morning

Leopard frogs are interesting critters, in that like the dewy lawn in summer.

Even the goldfish were up for air!

I have to be very careful when riding the law tractor, cutting grass is stressful! Driving slowly enough that they can either hunker down, or hop out of the way, I avoid frog guts.

Lawn tractor work

September buddies

Here they were, in warmer days of September. Today, the pond water looks a dark, dark

I haven't seen this big guy
for a few months!

brown. Sleep, frogs, rest, and soon you'll be croaking about spring!

Camera Critters

Northern Leopard Frog (Lithobates pipiens)

At least eight known species of leopard frog live in North America. The northern leopard frog is one of the most widespread and is the only leopard frog species found in Canada.

Other names: Rana pipiens

Counting Crows

Keen discussion

Counting Crows

One for sorrow,

Two for joy,
Three for a girl,
Four for a boy,
Five for silver,
Six for gold,
Seven for a secret never to be told.

You go check it out!

"One for Sorrow" is a traditional children's nursery rhyme about magpies. I've used it here! According to an old superstition, the number of magpies one sees determines whether one will have bad luck or not. We often have a trio in our backyard. Being fixed, I don't think we anticipate a girl!

Always me? Whatever.

 These are American Crows. We don't have magpies in southeastern Ontario. All are part of the corvid family.

The genus includes jackdaws, crows and ravens, and magpies (the latter of which: are absent in Ontario!).

American Crow	Northern Raven
43-53 cm (17-21”) Completely black, purplish in sunlight, with large, chunky, strong black bill and feet. Woodland, farmland, grove, shore As far north as mid/central Ontario (summer) and northern Ontario. A loud caw, cah or kahr	55-68 cm (22 – 27”) Wedge-shaped tail Hawk-like in its flight (gliding/circling) Roman nosed bill, goiter-like neckfeathers. Boreal and Mt. forests, coastal cliffs, tundra. Does not venture much to southern Ontario. Croaking cr-r-ruck or prruk, metallic tok

Camera-Critters #292

I'm having a nap.

Big birds

Protest?

Whew! What a wind storm!

Daisy was a keener!

The leaves were going in circles. The noise in the bare branches was amazing.
The goldfish pond is covered in leaves. I'll leave them there, as it'll keep the warmth in for the goldfish who chose NOT to come in for the winter...
I put the sticky fly paper, covered in flies, in the fish tank. The fish happily ate most of the flies.

Weighted down with
an 'S' hook

Happy, warm goldfish!

Daisy was thrilled to bits!
Check out my wreath, below. It was flapping in the wind.

Frosty is dressed for November!

For more Camera Critters...


Wind storm in Ontario from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.
What a storm November 1st, 2013! Many in Ontario lost power (50,000), including 11,000 in Muskoka. Some are still not back up.

My flags and wind socks were horizontal. The leaves were going around in circles as the wind changed direction. We lost a few branches but just small dead ones on the dead trees. Daisy cat was out playing, chasing leaves while I changed up our decorations from October to Remembrance Day. She is fearless.

You can tell it is the fall equinox!

How?

• It's cold in the morning. 
• The sunrises are amazing. 
• The cats are buried under blankets in the morning. 
• The leaves are an amazing colour. 
• Geraldine bullfrog hunkers down in her plant pot in the mud. 
• The turkeys are in our backyard, evading hunters in this, hunting season. 
• I've created some turkey art (Thanksgiving arrives this weekend). 
• I bought a lovely tail painting, by the famous cat artist, Napster. It's called Goldfish, and has definite fall colouring. 
• Table centres are ready for Thanksgiving dinner this weekend. Turkey is ordered. Veggies bought.
• Daisy hunkers down on top of the fish tank light, which has some heat.

Camera Critters #288

The one that got away!

Our backyard bear visitor April, 2013

Travelling about Lanark County yesterday, on a delightful back road that left the car covered in clay/mud, hubby was driving too fast, as always, and I spotted a momma bear and her two cubs galloping into the forest. There was a car behind us, and we couldn't suddenly brake, as I tend to demand. By the time we found a place to stop, they had been long gone into the forest.

What might this be? Pine siskin?

I cannot be greedy! Yes, I have fun photos of a bear cub in our backyard. There are lots of lovely birds about!

Red-winged blackbird on my Catalpa tree.

windy day!

    And we spotted a painted turtle on the road. I sent it off into the ditch, in the direction in which it was headed.

CC #268

How many critters can you spot?

Buster was at his post, Daisy his sidekick, on the catapillar. Tail wagging, I knew something was out there.
It is a terrific cat stand. They spend hours on it. Playing, looking out at the bird feeder, or the front yard. Most people have a beautifully decorated house, we have a catapillar that sits in the front window!

But back to your task. How many critters did Buster spot on Friday morning?! You can enlarge it. There are some clues below. Scroll down for them.

CC #256

I love watching my Buster Brown. He's quite the hunter. He's somewhat frustrated with the snow. He cannot get at his mice friends, buried deep under the snow. They make trails, and he can hear them, but cannot get to them. 

Also, he is quite the big brother, playing gently with his wee twin sisters recovering from their neutering operations.

Here are some clues to the photo above! What is missing, are birds in the bird feeder! That was hard to capture in the frame. But there were several chickadees, woodpeckers, and a nuthatch or two about. These are archived photos of them.

    

Here are your clues!

  

red squirrel

Baby rabbit I found
in the deep grass last summer