My 2019 in Review - Photos

I managed to pick 26 pictures that were my favorites of the year either because I liked the way they turned out or because of a memory they evoked. I noticed some themes after I had collected them.

All except one are outdoors (although two were taken through my office window so I was standing indoors when I took them).

Many were pictures of plants: bare trees, witch hazel, red yucca seed pod, button bush, joe pye weed, cardoon, sunflowers, beautyberry, and red buckeye (nuts).

7 were pictures of animals or evidence of animals (other than birds): whelk shells, horseshoe crab beginning to roll over, northern red-bellied cooter (turtle), tiger swallowtail butterflies, cicada, spider, gray tree frog.

6 were pictures of birds or feathers: pelican, ibis, gallinule, bald eagle (wet), red-bellied woodpecker.

There are two sunrise pictures: one from my front porch on the first day of 2019 and one from October when we were camping in southern Virginia.

More than half the pictures are from places I go that are close to where I live (i.e. not requiring an overnight trip).

Zooming – October 2019

October was a great month for getting out and about. The weather cooperated. There were birds and butterflies and colorful leaves…some flowers and frogs…even a sunrise. I had a lot of pictures to choose from for this zooming post! I use the feature on my camera for most of my pictures…to get the image framed the way I want…avoiding the need to crop.  Enjoy the October slide show!

And Happy Halloween! A restaurant we went to recently had a clever Halloween decoration in one of their small bushes! I didn’t have to zoom for this picture…just stood on the sidewalk and took the picture with my cell phone!

Gray Tree Frog – Again

I posted about a gray tree frog on our gas grill back in August. There was a frog in almost the same place again last week! The grill has a cover on it when we’re not using it, so the location is very sheltered…until my husband pulls off the cover. The frog always looks very sleepy when we first see him. I’m glad my husband is observant, and we haven’t accidentally cooked a frog!

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The frog was not as easy to move off the grill this time. I finally got him onto the laminated card and moved him to the other side of the deck. During the process the golden yellow on the inner thigh was visible.

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I did a search on my blog to find the post from earlier this year and discovered that we’d found a gray tree frog on our grill back in May 2018 as well. Could it be the same one? They live 7-9 years…so it’s possible.

Online Reference: Field Guide to Maryland’s Frogs and Toads

A Gray Tree Frog

Last weekend, my husband pulled the cover off our gas grill – and discovered a frog on the shelf to the side of the grill. He took some pictures with his phone then turned on the grill thinking the frog would jump away. Instead it backed up and down into the crack between the grill and the shelf. Not good. We did want to cook our dinner – not the frog. I got a card and threaded it up into the crack behind the frog to encourage it to jump away. It jumped back onto the shelf and then away to the deck when I nudged it gently on the rear. (sigh of relief)

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I identified the frog as a gray tree frog – noticing the bright yellow patches on its hind legs when it jumped. We probably have a lot of them around in our trees…but not usually on the gas grill.

Frog on the Grill

My husband was surprised when he took the cover off our gas grill on Memorial Dad to find a tiny frog on the shelf where he usually sets the plate of food to be grilled. It seemed completely oblivious to being exposed at first. I rushed out with my camera to get some pictures. It didn’t budge.

We wanted to turn the grill on so I used a dandelion leaf to tickle the frog and it jumped….but in the direction it was pointed (which happened to be toward the grill rather than away. I tried again, and the frog jump off the grill and hopped a few times to get to a vertical surface – the frame of the door to the covered part of our deck. Note that the color seems a little different; the reference I found said that this type of frog could change color based on its environment.

It’s a Tree Frog. We have two in this area that look identical – the eastern gray tree frog (Hyla versicolor) and Cope’s Gray Treefrog (Hyla chrysoscelis). The only reliable way to distinguish is evidently the number of chromosomes (Cope’s Gray Treefrog is diploid, the eastern gray treefrog is tetraploid). This individual did have a light spot beneath the eye and large toe pads typical of both.

Online Reference: Field Guide to Maryland’s Frogs and Toads