Update 03/19/2024 - 03/10/2024  Brazos Bend State Park  I was watching various wading birds in Pilant Slough near the Observation Tower at 40 Acre Lake. They were
foraging on the floating plant mats.  I like to watch this behavior to see what the birds are catching. The birds move quickly, and there are many of them, so it takes some
luck for me to be watching the right bird at the right time to see a successful capture of prey.  It takes even more luck to catch it with a camera. For a long time (years?) I've
been hoping to film the capture of one specific animal--and today I was successful!  The pictures on not very good, but they are still clear enough for me to identify the
prey. The Great Blue Heron, Ardea herodias was at least 25 yards away, and I shot a burst of photos when it grabbed something.   I couldn't identify the prey until I got
home and examined the photos. The images below were taken as a single burst of photos (at 10 images per second); so the prey was gone in less than a second.
What was it?  The Great Blue Heron had caught and eaten an Eastern Newt, Notophthalmus viridescens.  I've known the newts live here. We've caught them during our
 Pond Life Programs.  
   

While growing up in the Northeast U.S., I'd found the newts many times, and had kept them briefly. I'd also found Red Efts up there, and in that environment I'd found them
nearly the size of adult newts, and VERY bright orange.  I had learned that the Eft stage was toxic, and the orange was a "warning" color (this is called "aposematic" coloration).
Here's an study:
"Chemical Defense of the Eastern Newt (Notophthalmus viridescens): Variation in Efficiency against Different Consumers and in Different Habitats" by Zachary H. Marion, Mark E. Hay.
If you'd like to read it, here's an open-source link(my favorite kind):  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3229496/

From this study (notes in [[double brackets]] are just my own comments):

1) "Like Taricha newts, the eastern newt (Notophthalmus viridescens) is assumed to deter predators by secreting TTX, with all life-history stages reportedly unpalatable to a variety of vertebrate
and invertebrate predators. "  [[ TTX=tetrodotoxin. They are toxic at *all* stages!?!? ]]

2) "The lack of rigorous research on the chemically-mediated predator-prey interactions involving Notophthalmus viridescens is surprising given that eastern newts are thought of as keystone
predators that regulate the diversity and abundance of larval anurans, aquatic invertebrates, and the ecosystem functions of some freshwater environments." [[ *Keystone predators*!?  This little
amphibian? What a great example of how much a single organism can affect pond life. ]]

3) "The eastern newt (Notophthalmus viridescens Rafinesque, Salamandridae) is one of the most widely distributed salamanders in North America and occupies lentic environments
across the spectrum from temporary to permanent water bodies."  [[  Where I come from, I knew them as "Red-Spotted Newt", but they're the same species. ]]

4)  " Notophthalmus viridescens secrete tetrodotoxin (TTX) which could serve as a chemical defense against predators. Concentrations of TTX are greatest in the red eft stage,
followed by adults, eggs, and finally larvae."  [[ As stated above, TTX is in all stages, although greatest in the red eft stage (which has the warning colors). ]]

5) " To assess newt palatability to co-occurring consumers, we used adult largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides; 15–20 cm standard length [SL]), juvenile bluegill sunfish (Lepomis macrochirus; 2–4 cm
SL), the crayfish Procambarus clarkii (9–12 cm total length), and adult bullfrogs (Lithobates catesbeianus; 12.5–18 cm snout-vent length)."  [[ The list of predators that they used are all inhabitants at BBSP also.
The crayfish is our big Red Swamp Crawfish. It is native here, and the same species that is cultivated and served in restaurants. ]]

6) "Here we show that eastern newts, their early ontogeny, and especially their dorsal skin areas are distasteful to common aquatic consumers such as fish and crayfish, that fish avoid newts due
 to chemical deterrents, and that the compound TTX can produce this response at small portions of its reported natural concentrations. Yet some consumers, such as bullfrogs and possibly
other reptiles and amphibians, appear undeterred by TTX." (page 6)

7) "Our results show that the newt Notophthalmus viridescens is unpalatable to fishes and a crayfish, and that this unpalatability is chemical in nature, is concentrated in exterior dorsal skin, and is
likely due to TTX or related secondary metabolites. However, this chemical defense is ineffective against bullfrogs (and possibly turtles), allowing considerable consumption of tethered newts in
the field." (page 7)

From my observation here, I can add Great Blue Herons to the list of predators that eat Newts.  The last two images below show that the Newt was swallowed (its head is
visible in image #3), and it was gone after image #4 and the images that followed (not shown here).  It does make me wonder if the TTX has any effect on the Herons
after they've eaten a newt. I have seen other wading birds catch newts but it has been a very rare observation, and I have never been able to capture it on film before.

   

Here's an Eastern Newt, Notophthalmus viridescens, that we caught at during a Pond Life Program a few weeks later, on 03/24/2024 .
   

01/30/2022 Speaking of Sirens (Lesser Siren-Siren intermedia)--I spent some hours near the mother alligator and her den.  While I was there, I discovered a partially-eaten carcass of a Siren.
I don't  know how it got there, but it was an interesting interpretive subject of a few minutes.  Then I had to wash the slime and other fluids off my hands. Fortunately I always have a bottle of hand
disinfectant with me--and one of the visitors also gave me a wet wipe, so I could handle my camera without getting it covered with slime.
   
I usually only see Sirens when one of the wading birds has caught one.  Wading birds (Herons, Egrets, Bitterns) do not usually break their prey into small pieces, or bite off parts. Sometimes
they may discard spines or legs. So, I didn't think that one of those had partially-eaten the siren. But something (such as a Caracara) could have stolen the Siren from a wading bird. Anyway,
I could use the carcass to point out the unique features on this amphibian. The two front legs with visible toes are distinct. The external gills are also visible, though not quite as clear, lying
against the skin just above the front legs. I put the carcass back in the grass where it had been found.

07/19/2021- I haven't been able to exercise in the area I normally use because it's been raining.  Today, it seemed like the circle had dried enough to use,
so I walked around it, clearing sticks and other items.  As I made another circuit, I noticed a round hole.  It was about 1.5 inches (3.8 cm)across.  It was much
too large to be a cicada exit burrow. My first thought was that it had been a crawfish burrow (Red Swamp Crawfish  Procambarus clarkii) that had had the
"chimney" knocked off--perhaps by park mowers.  I wasn't wearing my glasses, but as I stood above the hole and looked down, I thought there was something
in there.  I retrieved my glasses and a camera from my car, and returned.
   
I stood above the hole, this time wearing my glasses.  I bent and looked down into it...and something moved.  Then, a face appeared at the opening!  It was a toad!
The little face looked up at me.  I'm pretty sure that the toad made that hole--probably as the water dried and of course before the mud had hardened. I took
a few more pictures--giving the toad space so I didn't scare it.  Then, I moved my workout to the next tree over.  In the cropped images, I can see a blister at the front
edge of its mouth. It looks a lot like fire ant blisters I've gotten. Poor little critter.  I've tried to figure out what kind of toad it is.  After some searching,  I've found that it's 
probably a Gulf Coast Toad (aka Coastal Plains Toad; Incilius nebulifer). I can't see the toad's body, but those prominent bone crests between the eyes seem to be a
defining feature. I found the information in this: A review of the biology and literature of the Gulf Coast Toad (Incilius nebulifer), native to Mexico and the United States 
by Mendelson, Kinsey et. al. (Article in Zootaxa � June 2015 DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3974.4.4)

  

(update 07/20/2021)- I returned the next day--after all, it's where I regularly practice.  I was sad and a bit relieved to see that the
toad had left.  Relieved, because I thought that the toad was at risk, even in the hole. Since the toad had gone, I could examine the hole.
From the top, the hole is about 3cm across (1.2 inches--I'd estimated 1.5 inches).  I tried for pictures into the hole. It does have a visible
bottom.  That "ledge" is probably just a hard area in the substrate that couldn't be burrowed through.
  
I was able to see a bit more clearly into the hole than the images show. So I thought it would be ok to probe a bit with my finger. The mud was packed, not soft. Also, the narrow
parts are like shelves--that is, the wall is the same width under it as over it.  I couldn't tell for sure if the bumps were exposed tree roots. Also, the hole stops at the bottom, and
does not turn in any direction into anything horizontal. Finally, I made a "high-tech depth sounding device" from a twig and placed it into the hole. I pinched it at the top edge of
the hole, and then-holding by the pinched point-placed it onto my gauge to get a depth reading.  The hole is about 5 inches (13 cm) deep.
  

04/09/2009  --I encountered a Squirrel Tree Frog and was able to shoot some high-speed video of it as it climbed a tree. While watching the video, I noticed how the frog occasionally was able
to hold on by just one front foot. Then I wondered how the frog's foot stuck at all. I was pretty sure that it was by suction (even though the toe pads look like suction cups--see below).  I searched 
online and discovered that the surface of a tree-frog's toe pads is not smooth. Instead, the surface is split into many microscopic "tiles".  These sections are each surrounded by a narrow space.
Mucous is extruded from the spaces between these "tiles" or "pegs".  The mucous wets the face of each "tile", which then sticks to a surface by liquid adhesion (similar to the way a beer glass
can stick to a coaster).  The adhesion of thousands of these microscopic "beer glass bottoms" combine to form a powerful sticking force.  When the  frog moves, it has to peel its toes off the 
surface it is clinging to.

SQUIRREL TREE FROG CLIMBING   (Link to video (wmv))    I found information about this in these papers (I haven't put links, since they usually expire over time):

ADHESION AND DETACHMENT OF THE TOE PADS OF TREE FROGS
BY GAVIN HANNA AND W. JON P. BARNES*
1990

The SEM Comparative Study on Toe Pads among 11 Species of Tree Frogs from Taiwan
Wen-Jay Lee, Chia-Hua Lue, Kuang-Yang Lue
2001

 -------------------------------
                                                   GREEN RIDER
Actually, I see these Green Tree Frogs fairly often while in the rice, and usually that just land on the argo, or me, and then just jump off. This one, however, stayed for a while, and so I grabbed 
my "smaller" camera and took some pictures. They came out really well, I thought, so here they are.  I can't believe they came out like this!  I was got this great closeup (see REALLY CLOSE,
below), and while I had the camera near it, the frog turned and faced the camera (see GET MY BETTER SIDE, below).  Finally this frog jumped off.
----
                     REALLY CLOSE                                                   GET MY BETTER SIDE                                            YOU WANT ME TO JUMP!?                                       WHAT ARE YOU POINTING AT?                          

                 DON'T MAKE ME GO
Later in the afternoon, I was at it again with the argo, and another frog jumped on. This time, I reached for it (with the camera in the other hand), and the frog jumped onto my hand. It crawled to 
the knuckle of my curled finger, and posed for a while (see YOU WANT ME TO JUMP. above). After I took a few pictures, I gently tried to let it jump off, but it wouldn't go. I extended my finger 
(see WHAT ARE YOU POINTING AT, above), and the frog just crawled around on my hand and finger.  It perched on my knuckle again, where I got this great picture (see DON'T MAKE ME 
GO, above).  It always affects me to have such a small creature trust me like this. I want to stand still for a while and let it remain. But, I had my work to do, and I figured the frog would be safer
back in the grass, so I finally got it to jump to a strand. With a slight twinge, I moved away from my brief acquaintance.

If you'd like to know more about the park follow these links:

Brazos Bend State Park   The main page.

Brazos Bend State Park Volunteer's Page  The volunteer's main page.
 

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