Devine Lake Park (Should be "Divine")

Old dark sleepy pool...
Quick unexpected frog
Goes plop! Watersplash!

~Basho Matsuo

While one can hear some frog calls before dark, they increase dramatically after the sun goes down.

When DH and I started attending Amphibian Watch last fall, we had no idea how important it would become to us...what role it would play. We did hope to learn more about frogs and turtles - creatures I have always loved. But we had no idea how it would change our experience of the wild or the effort we would make to join others to observe and document these creatures.

This warning can be found under the trees in an area marked off by "crime scene" type tape. We aren't sure what bees are there, but we can read and stayed clear.

DH and I headed to Devine Lake Park the last two Saturday evenings. Last week was a make-up for the rained out March watch. Last night was the "regularly scheduled" watch. Each was wonderful and fun...bringing different people together to "do science" and allowing some of us to return to childhood for a bit. There was laughter and fun. There was skill and science...and the "zen of the frog hunt."

The coots are a presence on the water. We sometimes surprise them and they have certainly stunned me a time or two.

That we likely make the neighbors wonder is a bonus. Imagine if you lived near a park and regularly saw groups of people with flashlights searching the shores of the lake and banks of the creek... after dark...when the park is closed.*

I. Last week, 6 participants found Rio Grande Leopard frogs (and taped their calls). They are lovely frogs. I sometimes think these are what frogs should look like. They are good sized and vividly marked. And the call is what you think of as a frog call - a bit of a purr often followed by some chatter. And they will call back and forth.** 

Hunters! We start the watch just before dark.

Rio Grande Leopard Frog

The Blanchard's Cricket frogs were dominant.*** For tiny little guys, they are distinct and loud. Imagine an entire elementary school of kids hitting marbles together. One starts and the rest join in until you hear this chorus of CLICK, CLICK, CLICK.

And just as we were leaving the park we heard the deep almost melancholy call of the American Bullfrog, but we could not record it (the frog did not cooperate). One "last ditch" effort at the creek disclosed 2 bullfrogs peeping out of the water. We caught one, measured it, and took photos. Then I made the "catcher" pose (as all catchers should).

It's a little American Bullfrog - they get so much bigger than this!

These guys looks so funny peeking out of the water.

II. Last night was something else entirely. The frogs (and other creatures posted at the end) did everything but jump into the pail. In general order of observation we found: Cope's Grey Treefrogs (call at the beginning of watch/catch at the end), Blanchard's Cricket Frog (call and multiple catches), Rio Grande Leopard Frog (catch and call barely recorded), American Bullfrog (call too distant to record/last minute catch), and Green Treefrog (call heard only in a couple of spots - we never saw them).

We were joined by a family including young V who was so enthusiastic it changed the dynamics of the watch. V can imitate a Rio Grande Leopard Frog call perfectly - fooling us more than once. She caught frogs, held frogs, and shared a sense of wonder that we "more mature" watchers sometimes misplace.
  
The calls of different frogs took us all over the park - along the creek, under trees, from one side of the lake shore to another, and along the swale at the entrance to the park. There was a good deal of wading (I finally brought my waterproof boots AND remembered to change into them. DH, unfortunately, did not).

There were also turtles (one dead, one chewed), snakes, spiders, scorpions, geckos, ants, fish, beetles...I know I am leaving something out.... Here are the photos and maybe some stories.

FROGS!

Cope's Grey Treefrog has a great call. And we heard it from the beginning of the watch - for almost 2 hours. At the end of the watch KM and HY successfully stalked one. KM caught it at the edge of the brushy area along the creek/boggy area.

Cope's Grey Treefrog. Yes, I know this frog is green, but that's the name. They are indistinguishable from the Grey Treefrog except for call and DNA.

This little fellow did not want to cooperate with our examination. I love this face!

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Another photo of the CGT. I have never seen one before. I am quite taken by them.

One of the Blanchard's Cricket Frogs we caught. They are cute AND fast.

Another BCF It is hard to see here, but it was sharing the bucket temporarily with the bullfrog. This is generally not a good idea as some are common food for others!

Rio Grande Leopard Frog. How beautiful is this frog! Of course, I am especially happy with this guy as I spotted him first about 20 feet from the creek (and quite a ways from the lake) in a grassy area.

The underside of the RGLF

American Bullfrog

SNAKES!

We often see snakes (usually Blotched Water Snakes) during Amphibian Watch. But on this day we caught a Redstripe Ribbon Snake along the edge of the lake. Note the snake has a slight bulge in the middle. We wondered if there might be a cricket frog in there. This is a catch and release exercise so we will never know what the "bump" might have been.

Working on photos for documentation. See the snake in the cell screen?

Redstripe Ribbon Snake. See the telltale bulge?

TURTLES!

While finishing up an SUV drove through the park and stopped where we were measuring the bullfrog. I thought it might be the police, but it was a neighbor with a turtle. Apparently their dog had attacked the turtle and they rescued him. They brought him to the park to release him away from the dog. The turtle was in rather rough shape...some missing shell.

[DON'T DO THIS! Moving a turtle beyond its range can put it in bad habitat and result in its death. You can frighten the turtle,  cause it to release all fluids and die. I'm not making this up. It came from a UT Herpetologist. ALSO, Box Turtles are a protected species. LEAVE THEM ALONE!]

That being said, what did we do with the turtle, you ask? We did the appropriate thing.****

Ornate Box Turtle. He has red eyes - so a male.

GECKO! 

It was just an invasive Mediterranean House Gecko. Thought to have come into the country in nursery plants, they have become pretty common. I think they are pretty - and they eat insects, which we seem to have plenty of.

Mediterranean House Gecko

ARACHNIDS!

My sister told me that you can shine a flashlight over a grassy area in the dark and you will see the shining reflections of spider eyes. I have played around with this recommendation in the past, but have never seen so many glowing "spider eyes" as last evening.  I had to test it. Over and over I would run to the green glow and, sure enough, find a spider. They were mostly a variety of wolf spider. I shared this "tool" with young V. She thought it was pretty cool as well. We hunted spiders for a while.

Okay. I know these are bluebonnets, but the photo is to demonstrate the glowing spider eyes. Do you see the tiny white spots? Spiders!

One spider!

Another spider (out of thousands - or more)!

Devine Lake Park has a reputation of enjoying a good sized population of scorpions around the park buildings. They glow blue under ultraviolet light and we always check to see if they are out. Tonight we found one.

Scorpion glowing blue under ultraviolet light.

INSECTS!

It is hard to even start on insects. They are everywhere at the park and becoming more plentiful as we progress towards summer. I'm only including a few that grabbed my attention.

This ant was over an inch in length. THAT caught my attention. It was on the root of a tree in the grove.

These beetles were all over these wildflowers. Had we been here for beetles, I might have investigated further. For now, just documenting the observation (pay no attention to the cell phone shadow in the photo).

This was not found at Devine Park, but nearby. This was more of a show and tell. This is the exuvia of a dragonfly (the hard shell/skin shed by the nymph). I have never seen one of these before.

PLANTS!

Not a pretty photo, but one of my favorite grasses. This is Bushy Bluestem. It signals a wet or marshy place...in case the water seeping into your shoes isn't enough to let you know you are wading.

I thought this was an orchid, but my brother identified it as a Waterwillow.***** This was another "first" for me. What a precious bloom.

WATCHERS!

A few more photos of watchers. I love the teamwork and enthusiasm of these folks - we were 12 volunteers - an all time record for this watch site.

Don't forget your headlamp!

Would you worry if you saw a such a group wandering your neighborhood?

NOTES:

* I suppose they don't worry too much - no "flashing lights" - just flashlights.

**People often think they are listening to bullfrogs, but bullfrogs sound something like a "fog horn."

***We saw some cricket frogs, but could not catch any. Fortunately, a recording of their call is sufficient for reporting. One week later was a different story.

**** You really think I am going to write down what happened? Ha! [We also found a dead turtle at the lake. We could not identify the species.]

***** http://www.baylor.edu/lakewaco_wetlands/index.php?id=34776

YC gave me this T-shirt and it turned out to be a lucky one. I will wear on future frog hunts.