Frogs n tadpoles

I have always been fascinated by frogs and tadpoles. As a kid I would spurn any dollies or any kind of girly stuff in favour of my trusty frog net and head out every spring to catch myself some little croakers. It used to drive my sister crazy because their croaking would keep her awake at night. Internationally frogs are in decline. Frog Species the world over are becoming extinct at an alarming rate.

Visiting family in Auckland last weekend I was delighted to spot some fat green frogs in a flax bush on the edge of a swamp. They have such lovely skin and were a beautiful shade of green. These are a species introduced from Australia, they are called Bell Frogs. All our native species lack external ears, those round discs seen on the side of these guys heads behind the eye.

Two days later I was back in Whakatane photographing the heron at the dyers pool. Its not often they will venture into this space as the human foot traffic is heavy past the spot. I watched this one having a good feed and it took me a while to see what it was eating...tadpoles!
And some big tadpoles at that. I decided if it was good enough for the heron it was good enough for me so the next day I dug out my frog net.

It didn't take me long before had five little taddies in my jar so I took them back to Mums where I found a round glass bowl. I was draining a little of the dirty water out of my jam jar when one decided to make a bid for freedom and before I could stop it he had zoomed over the lip of the jar and down the plughole. Oh No! Seems like I was contributing to the declining frog population.

Fortunately the other four are well and happy and getting bigger every day. Amazing to think something that breathes water and looks like this can turn into something that breathes air and looks like a frog....is a frog...you know what I mean. Just brilliant!

www.nzfrogs.org

www.savethefrogs.com

Valentines Day

Yesterday was Valentines Day and Troy gave me a georgous present. It was a Bush Giant Dragonfly that he had found dead on a friends driveway. When he gave it to me it was still freshly dead so I could straighten its bent legs to make it look alive and quite ready to lift up and fly off. I understand that to some people it may seem strange to give a dead bug to say "I love You" but......well....ok so maybe it is a little weird. The important thing was that I really like it and it will take pride of place in my dead bug collection. I have always loved dragonflies and they are especially fascinating to study close up.

Below is my latest painting. It is a reasonably small study of a shag and kina in a rather curious composition. It is called "Kina Moon."

On a sad note, my computer has died : ( I can't complain because it is about ten years old! Fortunately I did a back-up relatively recently but I have lost some stuff. Troy thinks he can revive it long enough to get the missing stuff off it. After that I'm going to have a funeral and bury it with full honours...actually thats not good for the ecology is it? Best wait for the next E-day rubbish collection.

R.I.P. computer. Just as well it wasn't my camera or I'd be inconsolable.

something fishy

I wanted a small fish to include in a painting I am planning so yesterday I thought I'd go catch myself a herring or more correctly named a yellow eyed mullet. I raided Dads tackle box for some tiny hooks, rummaged around in Mums freezer for a pilchard bait and climbed the back fence to the river. After only a couple of minutes I brought in a shiny silver fish, the perfect painting subject. I thought "Hell that was easy!" so I decided to keep trying for more. My friend Rosemary runs a bird rescue and is always wanting fish to feed herons, shags, penguins and the numerous seabirds she nurses back to health. So I filled a bucket with river water and popped the herring into it. The fish promptly leapt out again and landed with a splash back into the river!I had a sinking feeling that the next one was going to be more difficult to catch and sure enough 30 mins later I was still waiting for a bite. Finally I caught my second so without wasting time I took it back to the house to photograph. On my way back I passed my Dad who had decided to have a go too and before I had finished taking pictures he came back with a big fat kahawai!

Hot Sunday

On the hottest day for I can't remember how long my better half decided to go for a mountain bike ride. Why?....well I have no idea but somehow I was talked into going along and walking the track. (I sold my bike after getting a wickedly sore butt from riding it despite all the built in padding I carry.) The track was through the bush near Lake Rotoma and I decided I would leave the camera in the car and get some brisk excercise while Troy did the loop on his bike. I had hardly gone a hundred metres before I had to turn back and grab the Canon as there was a little male Tomtit checking me out but when I returned he had disappeared of course. Wandering on I found this Bush Giant Dragonfly. Apparently it can eat 20 houseflies in an hour and can eat insects as large as cicadas.*

Speaking of cicadas, I found this golden coloured specimen entangled in a spiders web. I have no idea which species - New Zealand has 40 species but there are 2500 species worldwide.

What was supposed to be a vigorous excercise session turned out to be a slow meandering journey of discovery as I wove my way through the forest enjoying its cool and quiet wonders. Then we went home where it was exceptionally hot so we stripped off our clothes and flopped into our little blow up swimming pool. Lucky we have no close neighbours.

*Insect info from the book "Which New Zealand Insect?" by Andrew Crowe.

frogs for breakfast?

Recently I was just thinking how long its been since I've seen the herons fishing on the mudflats. They were absent again this morning so I went for a walk and discovered one at the dyers pool.

I have been hearing a loud chorus from the resident frogs in this pond on many a morning visit so perhaps the heron had been hunting them. A big fat frog would make a nice breakfast for a heron.

And he had the perfect perch!

When a cicada landed on the herons perch it almost became a snack but luckily for the cicada the birds neck wasn't quite long enough.