I was gone most of the day conferring with one of the two dedicated groups I am helping establish black bear sanctuaries in the US. Exciting. But it means I didn’t see all I should as bears show up and need identifying.
Along that line, one of the team members had a mother with a brown cub show up to begin the identification process that can be difficult at first, especially if the mother is missing facial hair that help tell who she is. They sent this picture, and the team will come through with a name eventually.
Gray TreefrogThe day started with a treat. Last night about midnight, "Eyes of the Night" spotted a gray treefrog (Hyla versicolor) climbing a window with its soft and rubbery toe pads covered with adhesive mucus. We have been hearing their loud trill each evening but they are hard to spot up in trees. She put it in a container with air holes along with flies and moths for it to catch and eat so it would be happy and healthy when I arrived this morning to see it. Even though it is named ‘gray tree frog,’ its scientific name means it can change color. It was bright green and at its prettiest. That color is especially common with males in mating season, but it is also a color used as camouflage to match their background, and she did have a lot of green grass in the container. I set it on a rock to see if it would hold still for a picture for a moment before it hopped off. It did, and the sun caught its color, its eye, and the translucent rubbery foot pads (in the bottom middle of the foreground) that help it climb trees and even windows. Thank you Gray.
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On another note, it is time for the annual North American Bear Center's Half-Birthday Party where you can vote for which piñata each of the 3 ambassador bears receive. All of the donations will help fund new dens for the bears. Join in the fun!
Click here if you want to read more:
https://mailchi.mp/bear.org/2023_half_birthday
| Click here to place your vote! https://bear.org/get-involved/donate-to-bear-half-birthday-celebration-2023 |
Thank you for all you do,
Lynn Rogers, Biologist, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center