Froggie Month Continues!

[guppiecat]

Yes, there will be a surfeit exclamation points this month, 'cause, well, froggies!

Today we finish up the croaking set. I wish that I had the equipment with me to record what it sounded like, but I didn't. Oh well.



This right here is what all the croaking is about. The male just sorta clings there and the female hops around. (I am assuming hetero-normative amphibian behavior, largely because I know of no studies to the contrary. Please feel free to enlighten me.)




A few profiles:




When I was high school, seniors boys^* would drive their trucks around and dangle a sixpack of beer out the window. The girls^* would queue up and make their selection based on the brand/condition of truck and type of beer. This is what frogs do instead:




^* Rural Illinois was even more hetero-normative than amphibians.

A short expansion sequence:




A slightly longer expansion sequence:





Lastly, these two show you just how much air they use to do this:

Comments

[jennkitty.livejournal.com]

I looked at the whole set yesterday, but I very much love these pics. How close did you get, to take them?

[guppiecat]

Some of them, I was just a few centimeters away. I actually stayed back further more out of fear of slipping into the pond than for fear of bothering the frogs.

They only had one thing on their minds, and being bothered by a big two legs making clicky noises and flashing lights wasn't it.

[jennkitty.livejournal.com]

That's excellent. You got some really great shots. I need a good frog sounds cd to sleep to. :)

[guppiecat]

Heh. "Sleep"

These frogs were louder than the howler monkeys in Costa Rica. Sleep was NOT an option.

[dreamshark.livejournal.com]

These are really incredible pictures. Wow.
Y'know, this is very naive of me, but I didn't realize amphibians even HAD sex. I thought they were more like fish where the sex act is completely abstract and doesn't require physical contact.

I know better now, though!

[realmjit.livejournal.com]

frog sex is very much like fish sex, except more clingy. The female ejects eggs and the male ejects sperm. fish take turns hovering over a nest, while frogs do it simultaneously.

[dreamshark.livejournal.com]

Sounds like a bumper sticker: Frogs Do It Simultaneously.

[cloudscudding.livejournal.com]

That first, head-on photo of a puffed up frog is amazing. Like a giant glittery disco ball.

[trishtrash.livejournal.com]

What sort of froggies are they? I love their yellow cheek-splashes.

[guppiecat]

They are several species, I think

Spring Peeper
Leopard Frog (or Pickerel)
Cricket Frog
Grey Tree Frog

[amaebi.livejournal.com]

So romantic and pneumatic!

(They didn't do the six-pack wooing when I was young in Southern Illinois so far as I know. It was likely too expensive.)

[mjlayman.livejournal.com]

And another frog picture!