My Last Frog Blog Entry

I've decided to retire my Frog Blog. It seems to this blogger that I'm starting to repeat myself entirely too much. There are only so many yard creatures, pond leaks, growing things to write about.

There is a lot of information in this blog if you care to read it in it's entirety or just here and there. The oldest post is August of 2008 and this, of course, is the latest. If you care to comment on anything I will see it and respond if you ask for a response.

This blog has been a fun thing. I may start another sometime if I find something that interests me to blog about.

TTFN ~ Jim

Since my last post I've traveled a few thousand miles. A little over 2 weeks ago I jumped in my truck and headed for Oklahoma via Kansas. The trip is about 14 hours one way so I split it into a 2 day trip going and coming. I visited my good buddy Dick who recently moved to Oklahoma City, with his daughter, from Corpus Christi. I helped him get settled and took care of a bunch of "honey-do's" for him. He's 82. Had a great time and plan a return trip in the fall.

When I got home I was amazed at all the changes that have happened in just a couple of weeks.

1. The algae in the pond grew like kids, like grass, like weeds, like the national debt. Holy Crap Batman, it was out of control. I'm working every day for an hour or so to get it in control.
2. Some toadpoles are large! There will be little toads running around outside the pond soon.
3. The screeching Woodhouse's Toads are still mating as late as this morning.... do they ever tire?
4. The gourds are putting out their little twisty-hang-on-tendrils now so they should start climbing the trellis soon.
5. Ants! They were in our flower pots, the raised garden, in some trees, in some bushes and so thick in places you dare not stand around for long. I'm an ant killer and they should be scared and flee.
6. A new pair of House Finch's have built a nest outside my computer room window. I'll not bore you with a repeat of all the coverage like we had earlier this spring... same event, different players.  The first couple built a neater nest.  Already the neighborhood is going downhill.
7. We got a swing for the backyard. I love to swing in a nice breeze.

I found a toad this morning that was in timeout. I don't know what s/he did to be sent to the corner but I did get a picture of him... makes me smile.

It's always nice to be home and I'll get some pictures going pretty soon...

Whoohoo!

Whitecaps in the Bird Bath

I have no idea why the air is in such a hurry to get from back there to over yonder. This rush results in what we commonly refer to as wind. For the second day straight we have high winds and so much dirt in the air you can't even see the mountains. 

Our poor trees and flowers are having a hard time also. While none of our trees have blown over there has been a lot of leaves blown off or just shredded. In the flower arena the blossoms for some have also blown away.  Lots of wind damage over the past couple of days.

On the right of center you may notice some match stick looking things. That is what is left of these lily's
when the wind blows away the flower petals and stamens.

Our vase tree is crying "UNCLE!"

A casualty from the purple ash tree... lots of these around the yard. 

Left is the pear tree and to it's right is the purple ash

Pampas grass looks like a pair of motor cycle riders at 70 mph. 

The frame for my stained glass split releasing 2 panes :(

I'll clean up the mess when the wind quits and replace the
broken frame and glass. 

Boohoo!!

A Quick Walk Around

Yesterday we finally closed the windows and turned on the air conditioning.  I reopened the windows about 1 AM and hopefully can leave them open today. With the windows closed I can't hear the birds or smell the flowers.  I'm particularly happy with the honey suckle outside my computer room as flower scent makes my nose happy.

I've noticed there are a lot of twilight visitors to the honey suckle, the majority of them Phoenix moths. They are big creatures and fast fliers. When I first saw them I thought they were humming birds.  They have been coming by each evening after sunset for about a week or ten days.

This morning I grabbed my camera and did a quick walk around the yard. Thought y'all might enjoy what I saw.

The gourds are getting bigger and will soon find the wire trellis and start their journey.

This little guy is one of the toadpoles that hatched about 10 or 11 days ago.

This picture is what resulted in a meeting of 4 toads. I think of them as Bob, Carol, Ted and Alice.  The toads
are gone this morning but they were around all day yesterday having a toad party.  The males were back
to their screeching love sonnet's by 9 PM last night... ya think it's a guy thing?

Lily Pads. They are just cool and have beautiful flowers that will bloom, die off and then be replaced
all summer long.

The red pad is full sized but hasn't been able to reach the surface of the water.  Looks like the others
are saving a place for him. The long stems have either a pad or a flower bulb on the end. You can see
bulbs that haven't reached the surface yet.

This is one of 3 birdie birthing sites... commonly called a bird house. Pretty plush as it has a roof and
a perch. The birds keep taking nesting materials in and I wonder if there is any room left for the chicks.
You can see nest stuff (technical term) sticking out between the roof and wall. 

I just love the vivid color of the rose against the green leaves and "moon" rock.

Backyard Slide Show Experiment

Doing all that video with the finches got me to working with video's and YouTube so I got to think'n that maybe I should try and put some of my pictures into a slide show and the only way I could figure out to get the slide show into my blog was to make it into a YouTube video. So that's what I did.

I went out this morning and took pictures and I present them to you for you viewing pleasure.

If you want your own slide show we should talk.

Whoohoo!

Here today - Gone Today The End of the Beginning

On day 17 chick #1 flew the coop... er nest.  I was up early, before the sun was over the mesa, just in case this guy wanted an early start, glad I was up for it... so to speak.  There are four video's showing each phase of the fledge process that occurred this morning.  I'll intro each video and caption the pictures.

Video #1
This is our hero, the oldest chick, leaving the nest to hang out in the foliage of the honey suckle.  It took a lot of consideration and then he just did it. I was so proud!

Video #2
This video was taken with my camera (versus webcam) and shows our hero preparing for the initial liftoff. He wanted to look his best. The video is a little dark because the sun wasn't up yet. Can you see him in the upper left quadrant of the video?

Video #3
Our hero takes flight but (there is always a but it seems) all you can see is this flash across the screen. You will just have to trust me when I tell you that was our hero taking his first flap around the yard. He then returned to the nest as seen on the right side of the video. Dad came by to try and entice #2 out of the nest and almost succeeded.  After his return #1 will rest and tell lies to his sibs (not shown).

If I could put captions on what the sibs are saying we could all laugh.

Video #4
This is the last we will see of our hero. The series has been cancelled because the main character has flown off the set. I don't think we'll see him again except in our minds eye (and this blog of course).  But maybe.....

As I look at the pictures it seems the finale isn't that big a deal... but thinking about it and remembering what has transpired over the last 5 to 6 weeks with today being a major milestone of a very complex process that happens over this relatively short amount of time. When you think of all the events; nest building, mating, egg laying, hatching, feeding and the dynamic growth curve of the chicks and finally first flight, I think it's pretty awesome.  The nest building started on April, 8 and the first chick fledged today May, 16... a total of 38 days... just 38 days!

Granted there are a couple of chicks to go but it's going to be a repeat.

Our hero, chick #1, contemplating the big day of first flight.

A cute family photo. #1 on the left, #2 top right and little #3 growing as fast as he can.

Super Whoohoo!!!!

No.. I'm Not Leaving ...I'm Scared

I though the oldest chick would have fledged this morning... but nooooo. This little guy jumps around and flaps his wings and preens like he knows what he's doing but he isn't leaving.

Mom and dad have stood by coaxing him to flight but he just hasn't worked up the courage.... yet.  I did get a brief video of him out of the nest... I saw him jump to the trellis and got the recording going as fast as I could.  He didn't stay out of the nest for long. Probably more fun stomping on his sib's.

Here is the trellis video:

This next video is probably the longest I've posted but it has a lot of stuff going on. You will see excellent flapping exercise, stomping on your sib's fun, mom and dad trying to encourage the oldest to leave the nest... obvious now. Notice how when one chick stands tall the others expect it to feed them... funny critters huh.

The nest is getting smaller it seems as day 16 moves forward. Their fuzz is almost gone except on the head... like old man eye brows.

Certainly tomorrow we will have at least one chick fledge.

Whoohoo!!!

Stretch and Flap ~ Repeat

Here we are, 15th day since hatching.  As we wind down to the last days in the nest I still don't find it boring.  They are very active... much more than just yesterday. The oldest sometimes jumps around like he has ants in his pants.

It seems that at least one of the chicks is a male as I think I'm seeing some red hue to feathers on his neck. It's pretty subtle right now.  Their fuzzy's are now confined to their head like a half-crown with the exception of one that has a little tuft of fuzz on the nape of the neck. There are no longer any feather shafts showing.

I've noticed that sometimes mom or dad will come to the nest but stay away as if to entice one or more of the chicks to come over for a meal. So far no chick has actually stepped outside the white ring of the nest.

There continues to be a lot of wing stretching by all the chicks.  You'll see that in some of the videos.  The two oldest chicks regularly flap their wings and I have the youngest doing a vigorous flap in the video below.  They do it more often after being fed... maybe the food gives them a shot of energy.  Today the oldest was flapping away and standing on his tiptoes ~ I was fumbling around trying to get the video going but missed the show.... Dang I hate it when that happens.

I've decided not to take any more pictures of the chicks from outside. I'm concerned that I may scare one or more into abandoning the nest.  Some articles I've read have suggested this could happen and having already lost one chick I don't want to do anything dopey and lose another.

All the pictures I'm getting now are from the webcam and from my camera via the window.

Enough wordsmithing, lets look at some pictures.

The next video I posted so you could see a wing stretch... well, it is what it is :)

In this video you can see dad standing away from the nest which I perceive as trying to tempt one or more chicks from the nest. Also a good flapping session by the youngest chick.

This is the oldest chick preening.  Kids of all kinds seem very flexible...

More preening... feathers are high maintenance items I guess.

I put this picture in because it's a demonstrates a function on my camera of making part of the picture monochrome
the the other parts in color. Impressed me.

Now quit play'n on your computer and do something productive...

Whoohoo!!

Toadlet & Baby Finch Update

I'll start with the toadpoles.

I got a few good pictures this morning of them and one movie. Not all that much movement yet but a few are cruising around like they know what they're doing.

It was just 9 days ago the Woodhouse's Toad laid their eggs... no algae growing under Mother Nature, wish I could say the same for my pond.

It's interesting that with all these creatures growing in the pond, once they mature and move out of the pond, they just seem to disappear.  Of course some are consumed... I understand goldfish eat them although I've not witnessed this.  Many other creatures you might think of as predators don't eat these little guys because they are reputed to taste bad.  I don't know if that finding was by someone eating them or by observing some would be predator trying one for a snack and spit'n it out. I still am left with the mystery of where do they go.

In the House Finch arena their fast moving story continues. The count is still 3 but I'm not sure for how long. This morning I saw the oldest chick standing on it's siblings and flapping it's wings like it was time to fledge. It didn't leave the nest but I'm thinking it will be soon. The others will be a day or so behind it.

They are pretty active, not sleeping near as much as they used to. I'm thinking their new feathers are a bit itchy as there is frequent preening, scratching and moving about. One even found a bug on one of the leaves around the nest and ate it.

A word about poop. The inside of the nest doesn't appear to have any poop but the outside of the nest is fertilizer nirvana. I can't imagine what it would be like if there were 7 chicks in the nest. Heck, 7 chicks wouldn't fit in the nest... how do they do that trick?  Anyway, creatures and especially birds aren't as grossed out about poop as many of the human order seem to be. Ya just have to look past that... consider it bad birdy art maybe.  Since the poop is all around the nest I can't keep it out of the pictures.

No feather shafts visable on the oldest chick which you see at the top of the chick-pile.  Has that hair-do kinda like
Friar Tuck of Robin Hood.

It would certainly be exciting if I were to get pictures of one of the chicks leaving the nest. Maybe they will be like the eagles I watch and start climbing around the trellis and honeysuckle before actually taking the first flight.

Whoohoo!!!

More Flowers, Chick-pic's, Toadpole Updates

In the flower arena the plants have been super busy. While the lip-lips have come and gone along with about half of the irises, there are new and different as well as oh-so glorious flowers to take their place. Here are some of the beauties that were caught on camera today.

I think those flowers are just beautiful.

On to the chick-pics for the day.  Mom and dad have been feeding them more and more often. They are growing fast and I've seen one stand and spread it's wings.  No one is leaving yet but the fuzz is quickly disappearing and where feathers emerging from their shafts used to look like paint brushes now remind me of oars.

Finally a note about the toadpoles or toadlette's, which ever you prefer. They have hatched from the egg string but most are staying close to their "home." Of course there are a few who venture out thus the whole pond has some of these little submarines cruising around. The don't seem to get venturous until their tiny eggs sack is consumed.

For the last 2 nights I've heard three male toads screeching away but so far have not found additional egg strings. Yesterday I found a female toad in the skimmer and released her into the pond. Before I could catch her in the skimmer she dove down near the water intake. It that had grabbed her she would have been toast, or mush or some other disgusting dead thing. If you recall, last year we had 5 toad couples mating at the same time... a regular pond bordello.

In Closing: My fan has indicated the vivid pictures of the flowers were too bright and would turn the night into day. I will there for try to refrain from enhancing photos to neon heights.

Whoohoo y'all!!!

Fish, Hummers, Wasp & Chick-pic

In the time since my last Frog-Blog post I've seen some things I have not seen before. Nothing earth shak'n or worthy of the evening news but still, new to me.

Just before dawn I was gazing out the window at the backyard. Erupting from the depths of the skimmer pond, like a great white shark, was a leaping gold fish. No doubt on the hunt to feed it's ravenous appetite.  One can never be too careful around these vicious creatures when they are in a feeding frenzy. I've never seen them jump out of the water but this guy did... with feeling. I hope he got his bug.

The wasp nest and it's construction I've not seen before or at least don't remember. I suppose it could be a hornet nest or something similar to a wasp. It was on the stucco ceiling of our entry... about 12 feet off the ground. The nest was about 2.5 inches across and  about 2 inches deep. Obviously it was inhabited by a yellow and black insect that would make me run if it wanted to by just buzzing me. I may claim "I ain't scared," but I'm also not brave.

Here is a little movie I took that shows this busy creature doing whatever they do inside their nest.

Another thing I haven't see before was the swimming humming bird. This little hummer would come to the surface of the pond and skim across with his belly in the water.  Reminded me of one of those sea planes. Every time I tried to get a picture of this the little guy would take-off (pun intended).  It's done this repeatedly over the past 3 or 4 days.

This morning the sea-hummer was back but this time it landed in the waterfall... and stayed there. I snapped a couple of blurry pictures and a very quick video. Sorry about the quality but it is what it is. Don't blink!

Now our daily chick-pics.

Can you believe the difference between yesterday and today? They are alert and the guy at the top of the picture
is filling in nicely.  No doubt this will be the first one to fledge.

Just a closer look at our babies. The middle one has some feather action going on by it's right eye. 

Moving in yet closer. You can clearly see the feathers coming out of the shaft and how they will cover and protect
the birds once it fills in.  They have been testing their wings a bit and preening... and pooping a lot.

This picture I put in because it's a better shot of the top bird who appears to be the most mature.  Lots of his fuzziness
is gone. By the time they fledge the hairs will mostly be gone but there will probably be some over their eyes. 

Mom and dad just come by to feed them and don't spend much time at all near the nest.

This sure has been fun to watch this tiny fragment of spring renewal.  It certainly gets very dynamic when you consider what is occurring this very moment around the world.

Stay tuned.

Whoohoo!!!

Feathers Grow Faster Than Corn in July

Our babies are quickly turning into birds. Mom and dad only come to feed the chicks and mom is not sitting on the nest at all... even during the night. I wonder when that started.  I think they are close by as from time to time I see dad sitting on the trellis about 5 feet away from the nest.

When I checked on them first thing this morning they were piled one atop the other... maybe I should say stacked. When the sun broke over the mesa they spread out a bit.

The pictures show the feathers growing super fast with lots of changes since yesterday.  As I noted in yesterdays post some of the tail feathers appear to be fully formed. Still there is so much to see in each picture.

The chick on the right appears to be more developed than the one on the top of the heap. I'm impressed at the
length of the feather shafts that will be hidden once all the feathers emerge.

This is a closer look at part of the first picture. I read somewhere the little dandruff looking things at the end of
some of the hairs, primarily on the head, mean the chick is a male (wish I could find that article again).  Note how
the feathers spread out and cover the chick like a jacket might keep us from the rain and cold.

This picture is from a higher angle.  Lots of poop around the nest and it's only going to get worse. Sure glad it
doesn't offend my nose.

In the gourd garden we now have over 40 plants sticking their leafy heads out of the ground. I was asking Ginger how many she planted and if we would need to thin the crop. She said over 100 seeds went into the ground and no thinning would be required. She has the green thumb and I just carry the shovel and drive the wheelbarrow.  No squash bugs sighted so far.


Whoohoo!!

More Chick Feathers & Vivid Picture Experiment

If your finished laughing at the previous post (Ha! Cracks me up*) I'll move on with today's chic-pics.

Wow, look at the feathers! And look near the tail and you see feathers that appear complete. When did
all this happen? This is day 10 except for the little guy on the right... he wasn't a first day hatchlet... he
appears to be on day 8 or 9. That nest is getting full.

I've been trying to learn about the capabilities of my new camera.  It's amazing to me all the functions they can pack into a camera. One of those functions it to enhance a picture of foliage with what they call vivid colors. I decided to give it a go... kinda neat methinks. 

 Here are the results of the vivid picture experiment.

This is a "non" vivid picture of  some Firewitch Dianthus. Very colorful to my eye.

The same plant but with VIVID colors. To me it's like the plants have a bright light shining on them... maybe it's just me!

Another vivid pic but zoomed in a bit. I sure like these flowers.

The last of today's vivid pictures. The Border Lily (I call 'em Lizzy Borden's) look really nice contrasted with
the green of the leaves. 

So what do you think of enhanced pictures? After looking at a vivid picture the "regular" picture looks kinda drab.  An eye trick?  I wonder what a chick would look like enhanced with a vivid setting....

Whoohoo!!!

* The term "crack's me up" was popular when I was in Jr. High until ~ I don't know when. I don't hear it much now days but then that might be because my ears are old and don't hear a lot of things.  I suppose if I were Humpty Dumpty the term wouldn't be near as cool.