Gray Treefrog

This little creature, Hyla versicolor, joined us for breakfast the other morning.  It was a sunny morning and the wooden deck had warmed up when what should appear but a tiny treefrog.  It sat there for quite a while.  Long enough for us to run and get the camera and take a few photos.  It then hopped off onto the trumpet vine by the deck.  Treefrogs are great to have around as they eat all manner  of insects like crickets, grasshoppers, flies and moths.  They are also interesting in that they will change colors gray, green or brown depending on the temperature and background.

Baby Fox Snake

"People are both repelled and fascinated by snakes"...E.O. Wilson

Don't be alarmed if you see this little snake  in your backyard. Fox snakes have hatched and are out and about. They like to sun themselves on warm stones, highways and, in the case of the little 14" snake above, on our deck. They eat mice and other rodents, bird eggs and young hatchlings. That perhaps is their only fault. They are not poisonous and will quickly move away from you.  There is really no need to kill  any snake in this area as none are poisonous. However, if you are one who is repelled by snakes, find someone who is fascinated by snakes and ask them to remove it from your yard. They will be glad to do so.

Collins Pond

We left Habitat Home and took the short quarter mile walk to Collins Pond, part of the Champaign County Forest Preserve District's Homer Lake Park.  The spring ephemerals are in more abundance and variety than we've seen on our property, as in the scene above showing lots of spring beauties and dutchman's breeches in the woods just above the Salt Fork River.  Several other photos of the flora and fauna are included below.

American toad (Bufo americanus)

another American toad (Bufo americanus)

Slider (Trachemys scripta)

White Trout-Lily (Erythronium albidum)

Dutchman's breeches (Dicentra cucullaria)

Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis)

Left: Great waterleaf (Hyfrophyllum appendiculatum), basal variegated

Right: False hellebore (Veratrum viride)

easily uprooted small honeysuckle

Rat Snake

How can anything so cute have a name like rat snake? Perhaps I will just learn the Latin name Elaphe obsoleta and call it by that. Lex found this little fella while mowing the front lawn. It is obviously a juvenile so it is a little hard to identify and please comment if I have identified it incorrectly. But the young hatch late July to September and I think this one just hatched recently. Rat snakes prefer a variety of forest, shrub, and edge habitats, so he should feel right at home. Carnivorous mammals and raptors prey upon these little snakes. Hope he survives!

Just visiting, I hope!

I went out the back door and there he was. This garter snake (Thamnophis) was right on the door mat. Garter snakes are easily identified by the three yellowish stripes running the length of the body. He was probably just sunning himself. I don't think he appreciated me staying around and observing him!

Fox snake

This fox snake (Elaphe vulpina) was crawling out of the wood pile that is stored under our deck. He was enjoying the patio. He did not seem to mind us and I really don't mind him (or her?). He eats small mammals like mice, chipmunks and young rabbits. The downside is that he also eats birds, their eggs and nestlings.

Gardening with a toad

Bufo Americanus or the American toad. He was uncovered while I was weeding a mass of blooming winecups (Callirhoe involucrata). That's the pink in the photo. I did not know that wine cups attracted toads. I thought they just liked insects and earthworms and other toads.