A few nice video of animals images I found:
20071123 - Cookie Decorating - Carolyn & Winter Beavis (by Vicky) - 2061602584_363ea0ba9d_o
Image by Rev. Xanatos Satanicos Bombasticos (ClintJCL)
Beavis asks, "Why?!?! WHY THE HUMILIATION?!?!?!"
BACKSTORY: Every year after Thanksgiving, Carolyn's family engages in cookie decorating. Clint has never gone, as it sounds intensely un-fun, boring, and a waste of time to him. In also means Clint's holday gets wasted as he can't plan anything to do with Carolyn. )~:
Carolyn.
Beavis the cat, hat, scarf.
funny animal.
Lowell and Anne Sawyer's house, Occoquan, Virginia.
November 23, 2007.
Pic by Vicky.
... Read my blog at ClintJCL.wordpress.com
... Read Carolyn's blog at CarolynCASL.wordpress.com
... View videos of Beavis the cat at www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=ClintJCL&search_q...
... Read Vicky's blog at tgaw.wordpress.com/
... View Vicky's photos at www.flickr.com/photos/tgaw/
Chomp
Image by ShutterSparks
For a video of Mitzi being a lunatic: www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7v3gkEf53s
Anaxyrus americanus - American Toad, what an amazing voice.
Image by FritzFlohrReynolds
I don't know much (yet) about amphibians, but I have always enjoyed hearing them sing. Usually they are very shy, and I had never managed to observe any this closely, let alone film them. It was really a cool experience. The camerawork is a little shaky, but that's because it is an iPhone. I am very satisfied with the quality of the audio.
When I took these videos, I did not know what species this was, or even if they were "frogs" or "toads." American Toads usually do most of their calling and mating at night, but hot weather can inspire a flurry of day time activity. It was 84 degrees, unusually hot for early April in this area, especially considering it had gone down to 26 degrees less than a week earlier. According to the almanac, average weather here at this time, for comparison, is highs in the 60s, lows in the 40s, with frequent rain showers.
Anaxyrus americanus (formerly known as Bufo americanus) females do not sing. Typically the males arrive at the water and start calling a little while before the females do. There was a lot of attempted mating activity going on in that ephemeral pond (shown in the other two videos) but in retrospect, probably no females there.
Yesterday was 91 degrees, and still no rain. If it continues like this, the ephemeral pond will dry out. The wild temperature fluctuations may have thrown these toads a little off schedule. Hopefully the females will show up at that pond soon, but if not, and if this year ends up not being a good one for Anaxyrus americanus reproduction, that is no catastrophe, they are a very common species, and it is normal for their population to fluctuate, based on factors such as weather. That is "nature" in action. There are many other rarer species in this area that are probably running into similar problems though, so for the sake of local biodiversity, I really hope we get rain and cooler temperatures.
