red eft

In June 2013, I (your website administrator) came across a red eft while hiking in Ragged Mountain Preserve in Berlin, CT. Red efts are the terrestial form of the Eastern Newt salamander. As full adults Eastern newts are green and aquatic.

wood frog

My spouse and I were hiking in Madison in June 2013 when we found a wood frog in the leaf litter. He was amazingly well camoflaged and we only saw him when he hopped. It was difficult to take his photo because one would lose him when looking through the viewfinder. Can you see him?

wood frog

Here's the wood frog circled.

pileated woodpecker

My spouse and I found this Fowler's toad while hiking in Madison in June 2013. A Fowler's toad can have 3 warts in the brown spots on its skin while an American Toad won't have more than 2 per spot. It took us awhile to decide on identification, but we did settle on the Fowler's toad.

new wood frog

We found another wood frog in Madison in June 2013, and this was the tiniest one I have ever seen. We were searching the ground for shed cicada skins and this little guy turned up. It's clearly this year's frog and it wasn't too long ago that it was a tadpole. You can still see the characteristic wood frog mask across its eye.

gray tree frog

Matt Kuskowski found this gray tree frog on his pool railing in Torrington in July 2013. It's neat to see one showing its green form.

bat on sidewalk

This is kind of sad. Lisa Block of Milford found this bat on her sidewalk. It couldn't seem to fly and was clearly injured or unwell. There's not much one can do in such a case. Bats are a rabies-vector species so handling them is not really safe. People who do handle bats have special licenses and must have an up-to-date rabies vaccine. Lisa took a photo, it is rare to get a close look at a bat. The bat was gone in the morning.

baby screech owl

mother and baby screech owl

Shane Jone's sister had quite a treat, screech owls nesting in her yard in Manchester! Shane took these photos in July 2013. There is one of a baby owl and one of the mother with baby.

blue spotted salamander

Arlene Raymond found a blue spotted salamander under a container in her garden in Mystic. August, 2013.

gray treefrog

Another gray treefrog went visiting in Gales Ferry. John took a photo of this little guy on what looks like wicker furniture in Sept 2013.

garter snake

I went hiking in Ledyard in Oct, 2013 and found a garter snake basking on the path. He posed very nicely while I laid on my belly, camera lens to snake nose, and got this photo.