This guy was sitting on the patio door when I came home today!
Summer Toad Photo & a Cool Insect
July 22, 2010 By
Here’s a nice summer toad photo. We haven’t been home as much as in previous year’s and have not seen as many toads, but they are still around. 
We are growing a few container vegetables this year and I spotted this very well camouflaged insect recently.
Can you spot the insect? Do you know what kind it is? I wasn’t sure, but am pretty sure it is in the group they call Leaf Hoppers.
Passing Along Information About Bat Conservation International
May 19, 2010 By
So, I try not to use this blog as a soapbox, but all of us birders and backyard wildlife enthusiasts need to get concerned about bats. White Nose Syndrome is a real threat to bat populations. Bats are a very important part of the balance in our ecosystem. I received a disturbing email alert from Bat Conservation International. I’d like to pass along this information. If you need more information or if you don’t know about White Nose Syndrome, please contact the fine folks at Bat Conservation International.
It is with great sorrow that I report the White-nose Syndrome fungus has been found on gray bats. Friday, we received word that five bats tested positive in a genetic test for the White-nose Syndrome fungus outside a cave in Shannon County, Missouri-one of only a handful of gray bat hibernacula.
Gray bats are very near and dear to Bat Conservation International’s heart. For decades, we have worked to recover the declining gray bat populations and the species was well on the road to being removed from the Federal Endangered Species List.
That was until White-nose Syndrome showed up in New York four years ago. BCI and bat scientists around the country have been nervously monitoring the spread of this devastating disease that has killed more than one million bats since 2006. This winter, the White-nose fungus spread to Tennessee, the epicenter of gray bat territory, and we feared the gray bat would be the seventh bat species and the second federally endangered species to be affected by the disease. At the end of winter, the Tennessee Nature Conservancy, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency and Bat Conservation International’s Caves Coordinator, Jim Kennedy, returned from surveying Hubbard’s Cave-one of the largest gray bat hibernacula-with hopeful news; the colony was stable with no sign of White-nose Syndrome. But now, the future isn’t looking as bright.
Because of Bat Conservation International’s strong emotional tie to this species, the gray bat was one of the first four Adopt-A-Bats to be released this past holiday season. If you’d like to support gray bats and the work we do, consider adopting a gray bat or donating online.
Thanks for your support! 
Executive Director
Bat Conservation International
Rescued a Wood Frog
June 26, 2009 By
We recently did some work on the entrance to our crawl space. We haven’t yet finished and put a cover on it, so it is a bit of a toad trap. When we let the dog out, we try and check the trap and make sure that no toads or frogs have accidentally jumped in the hole. Well, last night the dog wouldn’t stop staring the hole and Steve checked and sure enough a Wood Frog had gotten himself stuck. We tried rescuing him and at first, he just wanted to jump right back in there! We ended up releasing him on the other side of the shed in the woods.
Here are a few pictures:
Raccoon comes into the Feeder Area
June 1, 2009 By
We were in the house in the evening and I happened to look outside. I saw a very large raccoon sitting at the base of our feeders.
Steve and I both were at the door talking and I took my time to get the camera. The raccoon didn’t seem disturbed by us one bit. We weren’t sure if it was a female or male, but it sure seemed large! We ended up scaring it off with the flash of the camera. It tried to run into the woods very fast, it just looked like it was lumbering along.
Here are a couple of photos:
First Brown Thrasher Feeds on Insects in the Backyard!
May 31, 2009 By
This bird showed up at around 4pm this afternoon. When I first spotted him, he was really rooting in the soil near the base of the bird feeder. I had never seen any of the “usual suspects” exhibiting this behavior. It was slightly larger than a cardinal and with the long bill I knew that it wasn’t a bird I had seen previously. I was inside doing dishes at the time, and I wasn’t able to get outside without the Brown Thrasher flying off. He came back 2 other times. Steve had an opportunity to see him also. Every time I would open the door, he would fly away nearly immediately. He was really pecking away at the soil, presumably in search of insects. I don’t know that he ate much of our seed, but he was definitely feeding on the insects at the base of the feeder. It was really interesting to see him do this. I haven’t ever seen one of these birds before in the Backyard. If they have been around before, it must have been during high traffic times and he got overlooked. Here are the other photos I snapped from the window.
Summer 2008 Update on the Backyard
July 17, 2008 By
We’ve been seeing a lot of toads, mostly medium and large toads by our crude standards. We haven’t actually measured any toads. Sometimes we see as many as 8 to 10 per evening. Also, this summer Steve rescued a toad from the jaws of a Garter Snake. He and the dog came across a snake struggling to feast upon one of our toads. The snake seemed to get nervous when Steve and the dog approached and he wasn’t able to finish off the toad. So, Steve managed to get the toad out of his jaws. Unfortunately, he didn’t have time to get any pictures of this amazing sight!