I can't say for certain, but I'm pretty sure the two little frogs that have taken up residence around my mosquito habitat[1] little pond are northern green frogs.
Though they are a LC (least concern) species, nevertheless, as frogs are very sensitive to pesticides I do feel rather vindicated by them taking up residence. Not to mention the moss that has colonized the rocks ringing the pond. So pleased!
sony ILCE-7C tamron 70–180 (180mm) lens; 3sep22:13:30, f/4.0, ev 0 1/320s, ISO 100, daylight WB. Cropped, otherwise an out-of-the-box jpg.
As there are no other bodies of water nearby, I have no idea where they came from; nor have I heard any of their distinctive banjo-string-plucked ‘gunk’ calls, so I'm thinking perhaps these are juveniles.[2] In any event, it means not clearing all the dead leaves & rotted vegetation from the bottom of the pond, especially if I'm hoping a reappearance in future years.[3]
They certainly have the lime facial patches and distinct dorsal ridges typical of the species, which varies a good deal in coloration between individuals even without the quality of light being all over the place, as it is in these photos.
sony ILCE-7C tamron 70–180 (180mm) lens; 3sep22:13:21, f/2.8, ev +1.0 1/320s, ISO 100, daylight WB; cropped and pretty aggressively lightened using the color curves tool.
In fact, although some species of frogs do change color (tree frogs, frex) to better match their environments, green frogs (of which the northern is a subspecies) evidently don't; but you could forgive me for thinking they do, after looking at the picture below:
sony ILCE-7C tamron 70–180 (180mm) lens; 27aug22:13:54, f/2.8, ev +2.0 1/200s, ISO 320. Cropped, otherwise as is.
This is my favourite image, despite its being so dark: the animal looks so mysterious and a part of its environment, as if moss had grown over its head. (Pretty sure it's just a lot of green light being bounced around, combined with possibly some artifacts with the sony's color processing...but for me a significant—i.e. time-consuming and difficult—part of the image post-processing is simply choosing which images appeal..)
[1]I do put in those mosquito dunks
[2]The alternative being they've been here for years and I never once noticed them. Which while par for the course, would be kinda embarrassing—it's not like I haven't occasionally seen toads in the back yard & been on the lookout for them ever since...
[3]But I'm still really hoping some day for garter snakes...though they do eat frogs
Unless otherwise noted, text, image and objects depicted therein copyright 1996--present sylvus tarn.
