SNAKES, BUTTERFLIES, AND
PEEPERS!Donny reported witnessing a snake trying to eat a toad this week. According to the story, the toad kept escaping (it was huge), and the snake finally gave up. I'm wondering if the snake got a taste of the toad and thought better of it as dinner? Toads have toxic skin secretions; they also eject urine to deter predators. Having said that, toads are eaten by snakes! The picture is not of a snake eating a toad, as you probably realized. That is a Garter Snake eating a Green Frog - a drawing I did from a photograph, so it really happens!
I've
had one Monarch butterfly emerge from its chrysalis, and have
two more hanging in those green cases while the chemistry turns
the caterpillar into a butterfly. Are you looking for these caterpillars?
We have several good Milkweed patches on the island, and lots
of Monarchs on the wing, mating and laying eggs. Just to remind
you of these developmental stages, here is the life cycle of these
amazing insects, soon to be migrating south to Mexico!
Since
writing the above we had another toad encounter on the edge of
Head Beach while hunting for Spring Peepers. Those toads get around.
Two more small ones were found at the Lily Pond. I did find 3
Peepers sitting on the foliage growing along the edge of the Cattail
Marsh. You have to look carefully, but they are there. These are
tree frogs and can climb up to snatch a fly-by insect. Here is
one on a Marigold in my garden!