Thursday 7 April 2011

Reddit, reddit... croak!!

This afternoon we were visited by a creature I had been longing to see... A Tree Frog [Hyla arborea] Rainette verte.
I was pretty certain we should have it around... but they are notoriously difficult to see... but this little* fellow wasn't!
It was just hopping across the grass at the back of the longére... and not very well camoflagued at that, either!
I had to take a photograph, so while Pauline ran to find my camera, I wet my hands on the dew-laden grass and picked it up. [Never handle a frog, toad or newt with dry hands... it is not appreciated... and in fact, is bad for them!]
I passed the frog to Pauline once she'd returned with the camera, and forgot to mention wetting her hands as I was rather over-excited!
The tree frog quickly left the hot hands and made for her shirt and then her hat... and posed quite well!
Trying to vanish on a shirt!

And then on a hat!

I then returned it to the moist vegetation and in this last picture you can see how well it can blend in!
But invisible at last in the nettles and goosegrass!!


*4 cms long! Look at the material of Pauline's shirt and the stitching on the hat... that will give you an idea of size!

3 comments:

Jean said...

What a cute little frog. And amazing camouflage - as you say, almost invisible - I'm sure I would never spot one.

And I must say, superb photos.

Amanda said...

"Le jardin de Lucie" posted about rainettes too, on the same day.

Niall & Antoinette said...

Lucky you; he does blend in beautifully.