"Out & About" Photo Blog: Oshawa Second Marsh -- April 12th, 2011

I spent a couple hours at the marsh today and hit it lucky.

My first subject of the day... it's a Wood frog. As I approached the pond there was a loud chorus of frogs singing. As I quietly covered the last 100 ft it was to no avail. They all stopped when I was about 30 ft away. Frogs singing is another of nature's sounds that I love.

I recorded a movie of the frogs (just to get the sound really) and then extracted the sound from the movie. The sound they make is compared to a bunch of ducks quacking. If you're curious to hear what they sounded like, click the following link.

www.rgbell.ca/$outandaboutblog/woodfrogs.mp3

Last year's Wild Cucumber pods always catch my eye-- the intricate lace and curlicues.

I can never resist Chipmunks!

The one and only Coltsfoot that I came across today, versus the 100s from the other day on my path.

These vernal pools as I was told they're called, are sometimes used by ducks, etc. but today I only saw dead branches & dead leaves in them. They dry up before summer but are apparently used by salamanders, frogs, etc. and of course mosquitoes.

My first Garter Snake of the season.

I tried to get a shot without branches, etc. while he had his tongue out. Here's one without too many branches but no tongue.

Here's one with his tongue out (but not forked which is really what I wanted) but with distracting branches... maybe next time.

On the way back to the car, I checked the frogs again. They were singing even louder this time-- probably not but it sounded louder. This shot caught him mostly underwater but he almost looks like he's transparent-- surface reflections is my guess. Click on it to make it larger and see what you think.

And when I was almost back to the car I got my prize capture-- a doe White-tailed Deer browsing in the woods. She was wary of me but not too nervous. I expected her to bolt into the woods but she just kept browsing as she kept an eye on me at the same time. It's always a thrill for me to see a deer since I see so few of them, especially at close range. She was only about 125 ft or so from me.