16 April, 2013        Froggie

I’ve never based (to my recollection) an entire blog post on one picture. But I got a nice shot yesterday and at least to me it was worth going on a blog post. I was hiking with a buddy at Bryan Park and this American bullfrog (Rana catesbeiana) was sitting still on a log in the water. Not jumping out of our way, I think because the air was cool and the water too and he was in no hurry to leave. I think that’s a male. Because (as I learned on wikipedia) his tympanum (sort of like an eardrum) is a little larger than his eyes. But don’t bet your house on that.

If you take the lens cap off your camera and press the button as often as I do, you’re bound to get at least a picture or two that you really enjoy. This is one of those pictures:

What a handsome bullfrog

And as Evie pointed out, lots of things make me think of songs. This picture called to mind a 1995 song called (unsurprisingly) Froggie by an alternative band called The Presidents of the United States of America. The video is cheerful and silly and fun and G-rated and you’ll use up three minutes and nineteen precious seconds of your life watching it but it’s time well spent: Froggie

A couple of things make photography easier this time of year. Better light makes better photographs – period – and the light is really getting gorgeous. Also the leaves are off the trees so things are much brighter. And at least here in Richmond there are flowers everywhere. As pointed out in my previous post. More flowers on this post, since I don’t get tired of them. I hope you don’t either. My blog host (wordpress.org) sends me information about searches that send people to my blog. I got a lot of searches last year on “inchworms.” But I also get an inordinate (in my view) number of searches on the phrase “white lilacs” which surprises me. My mother loves white lilacs and so do I so I include them anyway. My purple lilacs are almost (but not quite) fully in bloom. The white ones are running a little behind, either because they’re in a little more shade or maybe just a different variety. Evelyn perfumed our house with hyacinths from the yard last week; this week the lilacs are coming in. Here is a purple lilac:

April beauty

And here is the beginning of a white lilac:

Delicious smelling and beautiful white lilac

More later, when they’re in full bloom.

I also took a nice picture of a somewhat new moon on April 13. I’ve perhaps mentioned I have an app called “MoonPhase” that provides interesting information about what the moon is doing at any given time. If you’re unaware, a lunar cycle lasts just about 29.5 days. That’s from one new moon (you can’t see it) to the next. The full moon occurs around half way through the cycle, or at a little over 14 days. This moon was 3 days and 15 hours old, approximately 12% full:

Three day old moon. Fun picture. You can tell it’s “waxing” or growing because it’s light on the right side.

I should have put all these together. But the same day I took the picture of the bullfrog at Bryan Park I got this average picture of a mockingbird:

Somewhat inscrutable. I don’t think he’s irate. Just gazing.

As well as this dogwood. Redbuds and red maples and dogwoods are tied for my favorite tree:

A graceful dogwood at Bryan Park. “Graceful” may be one word too many before “dogwood” – they’re all graceful.

The fourth picture I took on Monday (after the frog, the mockingbird and the dogwood) was this mourning dove standing on a little sandbar in the creek. Like many birds, mourning doves use grit in their digestive system to help break down the fiber in the seeds they eat. This mourning dove I’m sure was wetting his or her whistle and getting some sand:

Mourning dove observing.

I have a couple more pictures to round out this post, including one more flower, this cheerful buttercup:

A bright buttercup. I believe that’s the only kind of buttercup.

And this somewhat unusual picture from the river last week. A relatively small rock in the middle of the river with a relatively large cormorant and two relatively large turtles. It looks like all three are waiting for something. Or listening to or looking at the same thing. Odd:

Attentive reptiles and bird

Anyway, enjoy and have a great day. Hopefully another post up before long. All best,
Jay