Tadpole time

Because I leave work at midnight, I often stop for critters on the roads at night is the early summer. Often there is a flash of a rabbit or coyote on the side of the road, big jackrabbits in the sagebrush. An silent owl swooping low after a mouse in the tall grass. Rarely I will see a lizard or snake on the tarmac, but best of all is the toads. Road herping is a lot of fun, but with several caveats. Wide open, straight, flat, empty roads with wide shoulders are safest. But a car on the side of the road is NEVER safe. 

Near built up areas is the worst, people worry you are a prowler, or police. There are often loose, roaming dogs, its harder to see cars coming. But with practice, it can be REALLY cool to sit in the dark in a quiet stretch of road looking at a big Woodhouse. In this case, a Couch's spadefoot on their way to a breeding pond. There were a lot of calls from amphibians in the distance. They usually hold still, which makes them a lot easier to photograph than the silly mammals or birds at night.

The local wood duck has eleven babies and the male has left. The chicks are very cute and seem to mostly be bug eaters, they are sticking pretty close to mom and surprising hard to get a good shot of...

There are now tadpoles everywhere in the ditches. They are easiest to see against the bare clay of the shallow waters at the edge. They are scattered around with mosquito fish fry that stick to the shallow water to prevent large fish eating them.

This photo shows a lot going on, but not very well. In the shallow ponds, the tadpoles will survive only if the rains return before the pool dries out. There are large ants patrolling the edges of the water. If the water disappears, the ants march across the mud and eat the desiccating tadpoles, but if the rains come, the tadpoles become frogs and begin clearing the edges by eating the ants and flies that are patrolling. In the ditch, the water is more reliable. There, the fish and snails bring parasites and other complications to the life of the poor tadpoles...