Sunday, October 12, 2008

Hoppers Purgatory Creek

And now for something completely different.
While at Purgatory Creek on July 23 I was facinated in trying to get some pictures of frogs. As a young boy I spent a lot of time at the pond a couple of blocks from my parents house catching frogs, snakes, turtles and other wild creatures, much to the dismay of my mother. However even though I had been spending a lot of time in wetland areas photographing I did not see many frogs. This made me curious, and then about the end of July I finally began to see them.
The reason why we do not see as many of these frogs as I did when I was a kid is because their population has been on the decline since the 70's. Polluted water systems are probably the main reason for the decline. This is a bad thing because these frogs are an indicator species, meaning that the health of their population is a direct correlation to the health of their habitat. So if we do not work to get control of our pollution problems we will not only possibly lose the frogs but we may also lose our wetlands and all of the species that rely on them for crucial habitat.
I also found this cute little rabbit, now does that face look disapproving. It reminds me of one of the rabbits that I had back when I was doing magic shows. Most of my rabbits were albino, all were Netherland dwarf, but one was this brownish color. We named her baby because she never got much bigger then the rabbit above. All of my rabbits are gone now and we probably will not get a rabbit again, mostly because they do not live that long and it is hard to lose pets when it is their time. Now we just have the cat and she will hopefully be a part of our family for the next 20 years.

5 comments:

Arija said...

We have masses of frogs of many different voices both in our pond and farden, but I seldom see one although I ook and look. The reeds are thick and my eyesight no longer 20/20.
Lovely photos.

Mary said...

Just wanted to tell you I LOVE your blog. I've been looking at your Yellowstone photos. We were fortunate enough to take a weeks vacation there the first week in June 2007. You got some amazing shots. Ours weren't near this beautiful.

Mary in Florida
toaostudio.blogspot.com

Shelley said...

I think I've only seen 1 frog in the past 2 years - really sad come to think of it. Enjoyed seeing one again in your photos.
That bunny definitely has its eye on you!

The Birdlady said...

The frogs are wonderful, but I just LOVE bunnies, and this is a beautiful image.

Leedra said...

My husband is constantly talking about frogs not being around like they used to, now he will have more to worry about with the decline in frogs.