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Location: Montreal, Quebec, Canada

I grew up in Ontario and Nunavut, and went to university in New Brunswick. For two years I lived in Ottawa, on the green belt. While I was there I wrote about nature. Then I moved to Montreal and I wrote nothing for a year. We've got nature here too, so I'm going to write about it.

Friday, October 20, 2006

aThe tale of the tree frog.



This happened some monthes ago, but since I've only just started the blog, you're getting it now.


I was up watching some late night television, as I am wont to do on occasion, when I saw something moving in the kitchen. my first thought was "Oh, hell, we have mice", and I went to investigate more closely. Instead of a mouse, I saw a frog. Specifically, a saw a stunning example of the Greater Gray Treefrog (Hyla Versicolor). The greater and lesser gray treefrogs are pretty much indistinguishable, so I only know it was a greater because lessers don't generally get this far northeast. It was, however, far too big to be a Spring Peeper, the other species of treefrog that I know we get here. It was probably a recently metamorphosed adult, because it was green. As they age, they become gray, but as young 'uns they have really quite marvelous green hue. Moreover, the Gray Treefrog has a pretty quick maturation period...their eggs hatch, for example, in a matter of days, so it isn't out of the question to have seen a young one at that time of year. I can't be too sure about it now, but I seem to recall it having a light coloured throat, which indicates it was a female. I decided that the kitchen is no place for a frog, and we had a bit of a merry chase, which, had I been watched, probably would have had my audience in stitches. There I was, bearlike man that I am, trying, and failing, to catch this tiny amphibian. Eventually, she escaped into the philodendron, where her camouflage proved itself once and for all. I did see her, once or twice, after that, but I never managed to catch her. I imagine she's dead now, or possibly she managed to get out again. I hope it was the latter. Frogs need all the help they can get.

if you're interested in them, the wikipedia article has some pretty good pictures, and decent information . personally, my source is the Stokes Nature Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians by Thomas F. Tyning, which is alot more indepth.

on the subject of frogs, it is cold outside. We've had nast weather, with a couple of heavy frosts. However, in spite of this, the Northern Leopard Frog (Rana Pipiens) is still out and active. I nearly stepped on three of them yesterday, and I;ve seen scores along the roadside. They'll be with us another few weeks....usually they go into hibernation in november.

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