Sierran Treefrog Calling photos by Larry Jordan

I am celebrating “Save The Frogs Day” with some photos from the water feature in my backyard.  This a Sierran Treefrog, formerly known as the Pacific Treefrog, is the most commonly heard frog in its range¹.

These little frogs show up at my pond every Spring and serenade us every evening.  You can see the range map of this frog here.

Notice how this frog’s coloring looks different in these three photos.  This is because the body color and the dark eye stripe do not change, but the body color can quickly change from dark to light, and dark markings on the back and legs can vary in intensity or disappear in response to environmental conditions¹.

I made a video of their calls so you can hear what they sound like when there are a several frogs calling during breeding season.

Please go to “Save The Frogs Day” and see what you can do to help the amphibians.

References:

¹ http://www.californiaherps.com/frogs/pages/p.sierra.html

In The Cove, a team of activists and filmmakers infiltrate a heavily-guarded cove in Taiji, Japan. In this remote village they witness and document activities deliberately being hidden from the public: More than 20,000 dolphins and porpoises are being slaughtered each year and their meat, containing toxic levels of mercury, is being sold as food in Japan, often times labeled as whale meat.   Watch this video.

To really make an impact on this issue, we must get the word out in Japan and urge action from our own leaders. We believe that once the world and the Japanese people know, they will demand change. Help us save Japan’s dolphins.  Go to SaveJapanDolphins.org and demand action from our leaders!

Rufous Hummingbird photo by Larry Jordan

Last chance to enter the Audubon Magazine Photography Awards!  Deadline is Wednesday, July 15th!

Parlay your passion for birds into a dream trip to Peru, Australia, or Honduras, or win professional photo gear, in Audubon’s first photography awards. Each participant can submit up to 10 bird images, so you have 10 chances to win. Your winning entry will appear in the January-February issue of Audubon and in Nature’s Best Photography. Here’s your chance to see your images soar to the top. Enter now!

Juvenile Bald Eagle photo by Larry Jordan

How would you like to win a “Journey to Peru’s Tambopata National Reserve?”  Well, that is just one prize in the Audubon Magazine Photography Awards: Birds In Focus!

New York, NY – Audubon magazine is launching the 2009 Audubon Magazine Photography Awards: Birds in Focus, created to celebrate the beauty and diversity of birdlife through the art of photography, and to honor the exceptional work of talented professional, amateur and youth photographers from all over the U.S.Audubon will be accepting submissions online until July 15 in three categories: Professional, Amateur, and Youth. Photographers are encouraged to reveal a new angle or perspective in their work. “Think creatively,” advises Audubon’s design director Kevin Fisher, one of the judges. “Originality and drama rank high at Audubon. Include tight shots, such as close-ups of eyes, feathers. We welcome uncommon perspectives.”

Other judges include renowned wildlife photographer Joel Sartore, a regular contributor to Audubon and National Geographic; Kim Hubbard, longtime Audubon photography editor and an accomplished photographer in her own right whose work featuring the birds of Bonaire is currently on exhibit at the Greenwich (CT) Audubon Center; and Steve Freligh, publisher of Nature’s Best Photography.

The Award winners will be announced in December and will see their work showcased within the pages of both Audubon and Nature’s Best Photography magazines, as well as on their respective websites. An impressive array of prizes will be awarded, including top-of-the-line photo and optic equipment from award sponsor, Nikon. Prizes include:

• Journey to Peru’s Tambopata National Reserve (Inkaterra Amazonica Lodge)
• An ultimate birding safari to Australia’s “Top End,” the Northern Territory
• 14-day Tropical Rivers and Rainforest cruise through South America (Travel Dynamics International)
• Opportunity to travel to Honduras with Audubon wildlife photographer Roy Toft as your photographer/guide (Roy Toft Photo Safaris and Pico Bonito Lodge)
• A Nikon D80 digital SLR camera, 18-55mm NIKKOR VR lens, and a set of Nikon EDG 8×32 binoculars

Submissions: Accepted May 15 – July 15, 2009. Up to 10 images per entrant. For details, visit www.AudubonMagazinePhotoAwards.com

Audubon magazine, the flagship publication of the National Audubon Society, has been connecting people with nature for over 100 years, and has been recognized with an impressive number of photography, design and editorial awards, including:

ASME National Magazine Award Finalist: General Excellence
ASME  National Magazine Award Finalist: Design
Communications Arts Photography Award of Excellence
American Photography Award
Photo District news (PDN) Award
Ozzie Platinum Awards for Photography

CONTACT:     Delta Willis dwillis@audubon.org. 212 979 3197

Photo from the Sand Springs Leader

This is a neat little story about a frog in a birdhouse from the Sand Springs Leader Newspaper in Arkansas.   I thought it was a cool photo, plus I love frogs and have a pond in my backyard.  As you know, or will find out soon, ponds and flowing water is a huge attraction for birds.  The story starts like this:

 It was a frog, alright; a frog in the bluebird house. Had that frog been sitting in the door-opening wearing a tam, cheap sunglasses, holding a cold drink in one hand, and a lit cigarette at the end of a long, ebony cigarette holder in the other, I wouldn’t have been more surprised.

You can read the rest of the story here: Sand Springs Leader