Small grass by railroad tracks, very rocky soil
Small white five petal, leads like parsley.
Light purple, small radial, 4 petals
Pinned specimen of Myrmilloides sp., a new county record
Also known as the five-spotted sphinx moth, this behemoth of beauty was seen hiking around east Norman, Oklahoma. An incredibly large, beautiful, and striking moth. Just gorgeous.
~ janson jones,
http://dusttracks.com
This is, of course, a dreadful photograph -- but it is still an observation. Heh. This plains garter snake was slinking through the bush along the side of Cherry Creek and the Canadian River basin in Norman, Oklahoma. A fast snake, it was gone in a flash.
I sure wish I'd gotten a better photograph of this one... The plains leopard frog. I used to see tons of these when I was a kid living in Oklahoma (1985-1987), but didn't see many on this return trip (or other more-recent trips). What few I *have* seen have been a little less than cooperative for my camera. Alas, so it goes with the nervous plains leopard frog!
~ janson jones,
http://dusttracks.com
Anaxyrus americanus charlesmithi is a much smaller subspecies of the American toad -- hence the clever common name "Dwarf American Toad." This subspecies is quite common in Norman, Oklahoma. I've seen many individuals in the Canadian River basin that runs south of town.
~ janson jones,
http://dusttracks.com
Blotched watersnakes are fairly common in residential Norman, Oklahoma. They stick to the numerous rain-drainage creeks running throughout the town.
~ janson jones,
http://dusttracks.com
A video capture, this is an American bullfrog I found romping about one of the many residential creeks in Norman, Oklahoma.
~ janson jones,
http://dusttracks.com
A blotched watersnake found in one of the many residential rain-overflow creeks in residential Norman, Oklahoma.
~ janson jones,
http://dusttracks.com
The Canadian River basin in Norman, Oklahoma supports a strong population of diamondback watersnakes -- or, at least, it did. I haven't been back since 2007 and I know there's been continued development in that area. When I was a kid in the 1980s, they were highly abundant. In the mid-2000s they were still present, but less common in their old haunts, likely because of residential development pushing in from both the south and the north.
~ janson jones,
http://dusttracks.com
