northeast-flora-and-fauna

The American Bullfrogs were out in force on this spring day. I met 6, and here are the 2 most photogenic. To you and me, these guys are handsome herptiles , but for many of the arthropods flying, crawling, and swimming around here, they are voracious predators. Of the herptiles of New Jersey, I probably see turtles the most, followed by frogs [1], then by snakes, and with salamanders far behind. Herptiles are an interesting classification of animals, comprising amphibians and reptiles . What's interesting about that? Well, mostly it's that reptiles aren't especially closely related to amphibians. Birds, which we think about as a rival group to reptiles, are taxonomically a type of reptile. And even mammals are more closely related to reptiles than amphibians are. But because historically people think about reptiles and amphibians together, the 2 land-based ectotherms are studied together, despite what we now know about relatedness. May 10, 2023 at Delaware Raritan Canal P...

Here's a type of wildlife I don't often run across, a salamander . While I encounter frogs quite a bit and sometimes have a nice run on toads, their fellow amphibians aren't seen by me very often. I suspect that getting salamander pictures is more of a 2-person job, where 1 person lifts a log or rock while the other snaps pictures. Since I'm typically by myself when out in nature, I don't really try for them very often. This little fella was the rare salamander that was right out in the open. I believe this to be the Northern Two-lined Salamander even though you can only see the black line that runs down the left side of its back. (Admittedly the black lines in my field guide are more prominent than this.) This species is known to come out in the open like this, especially if the area is warm/damp. The picture was taken in early June in a typically muddy area near a brook. Though tiny and harmless looking to me, if you're a small enough terrestrial invertebrate...