1,001 Amphibian Nights

Gray Treefrog

It's pretty obvious that I'm entering my really busy time of the year. I unexpectedly drop out of sight for a few days, don't post, don't comment and don't reply to comments left here. This time it was my department's annual camping/collecting trip. We head out for a few days, and get a bunch of critters to include in live displays at the Museum. This year, the fishing was particularly good, and we returned home with a nice selection of darters, shiners, and dace to put in one of our aquariums.

Fishing in LaSalle County

My department has been experiencing a growth spurt of late, so this was a larger than normal crew. One of our new members, Tom, is an extremely accomplished herpetologist. He was very eager to see frogs, particularly since we were hearing hundereds or thousands each night.

American Toad

Over the course of the last couple of days, we saw at least a half dozen species of frogs, including cricket and chorus frogs. Sadly, I missed photos of the cricket frogs as I was concentrating on my favorite beetles at that time (more about them later). Still, I was very pleased with the action shots of calling American toads and gray treefrogs that I managed to get.