2020 Amphibian and Reptile Review

 

I don't have the well developed sensitivity for spotting reptiles and amphibians that I have for birds, so I don't see nearly as many. Their ability to evade detection by sitting still and the use of outright camouflage probably also helps them avoid me. Exhibit one is the above photo of a deftly concealed leopard frog. Click to enlarge.

Then there are Fowler's toads that are abundant in New Jersey and that I suspect see me much more often than I see them. They blend in and sit still. Do you see one in this photo?

See it now?

Well played, hidden toad!

Adding to my roundup of amphibians and reptiles I've seen this year that haven't yet made it into a blog, I give you the red eared slider turtle. I often see them basking in the sun like those above. Basking is good for them: it helps them regulate their body temperature; make vitamin D; and dry their shells, which wards off problems with fungi, algae, and parasites.

Here's a painted turtle that I met on a sandy path in the pine barrens. I've been known to pull off a road when I see one of these trying to cross, and go back to pick it up and carry it safely to the other side.

Lastly, this week I was working in the yard on a sunny day and made a pile a leaves. When I picked up the pile later this little garden snake had crawled underneath. What a perfect spot for a snake: concealed, damp, and warmed by the sun.

Walking in Central Park

Agopostomen virescens, called the half-green sweat bee, bicolored bee, and half-green Agopostomen, collecting pollen from a rose. 
Click to enlarge. 

Every day last week at lunchtime, I walked in Manhattan's Central Park; it is right across the street from the American Museum of Natural History where I work. Yesterday, I led a nature walk there for museum members. Here are pictures of some interesting urban wildlife that you can see in the park right now. 

Red eared slider turtles are basking at the lake as if posing for photos. Be on the lookout around the park for turtles digging holes and laying eggs and try to give them privacy. We saw a red eared slider preparing a nest hole.

Ladybug eggs are hatching under the leaves into aphid-eating larvae. They look like tiny alligators. 

There are lots of baby starlings out there. 

I saw this pair of Chinese softshell turtles in the lake. Their long flexible necks are retracted, demonstrating what I think of as their turtleneck-sweater look. 

This insect is about 1/8 of an inch long and looked deceptively like an ant until magnified. It's a weevil in the genus Myrmex -- one of many kinds of beetle. Note the clubbed antennae on its weevily snout. 

These are just some of many many interesting things you can see in city parks right now. Take a walk in the spirit of Robert Frosts's A Prayer in Spring. 

...And make us happy 

in the happy bees, 

The swarm dilating 

round the perfect trees.

And make us happy 

in the darting bird

That suddenly 

above the bees is heard...