My decision to explore the mango orchard and bamboo thickets behind our village was made with the sole intention of clicking some pics of birds which had been eluding me for a long time. Birds like paradise flycatcher, red whiskered bulbul, golden oriole, etc. And over that I was hoping to encounter some reptiles as well; especially snakes and turtles which are common around the place. Recently my uncle got a flapshell turtle in the middle of his field. He released it in a big local pond. I don't know whether it was good for the turtle or not. Need to read about the pros and cons of animal relocation.
But what I was not expecting was to find a frog. It has been long since I saw any frogs hopping around my place. During rainy season they were literally abundant, but now, they have somewhat vanished except for the hardy toads which looks fat and warty like ever, giving some rare appearances. So I thought, winter is not the season for any amphibians to come out. Since it was very cold during night and day brings with it the scorching sun, I thought any sane frog will stay in their own safe haven. But it wasn't so.
So after taking these shots and after having my hypothesis for the absence of frogs in this particular season proved wrong, I went on my own way to find the birds and let the frogs hop among the dry mango leaves. Maybe they were a couple, I can't differentiate a male frog from a female. Need to read about that too. :)
And by the way, later in the day among bamboo thickets, I saw many of the birds which had eluded me before, but failed to capture them in good quality digital form. Maybe later I can when I pay another visit to that area.
But what I was not expecting was to find a frog. It has been long since I saw any frogs hopping around my place. During rainy season they were literally abundant, but now, they have somewhat vanished except for the hardy toads which looks fat and warty like ever, giving some rare appearances. So I thought, winter is not the season for any amphibians to come out. Since it was very cold during night and day brings with it the scorching sun, I thought any sane frog will stay in their own safe haven. But it wasn't so.
The mango orchard was a really nice place. The trees have started to flower and I can sense the promise of a bounty harvest this year. The leaves which have fallen to the ground were crisp dry and walking among them makes so much crackling sound that was enough to make any animal with normal hearing ability wary of my presence. No rain and hot sun tends to have this effect on the shedded leaves of any plant. After crossing few of the mango trees with no birds in sight, I glimpsed something small hopping out of the dry leaves. A frog !!!! It was small and reddish brown in color, which absolutely matched with the surrounding dry mango leaves.
I went closer to take his pic and it looked really comfortable (since he didn't move) of my presence. Or maybe he was busy keeping an eye on me to forget he has to run. Anyway, while repositioning myself to get better pics I saw another one hop out of the leaves. This one was whitish in color.
By this time, my photographer me overtook the naturalist Chime. I tried to catch the white one, but it was way to fast for me. So I turned to the brown one. He was a jolly nice fellow, I took my open palm near to it and with one jump he was on my hand. I moved into the sun and started climbing to the tip of my fingers. Click ! Click ! and here he is.
So after taking these shots and after having my hypothesis for the absence of frogs in this particular season proved wrong, I went on my own way to find the birds and let the frogs hop among the dry mango leaves. Maybe they were a couple, I can't differentiate a male frog from a female. Need to read about that too. :)
And by the way, later in the day among bamboo thickets, I saw many of the birds which had eluded me before, but failed to capture them in good quality digital form. Maybe later I can when I pay another visit to that area.
0 comments:
Post a Comment