About Mister Toad
mister-toad.com is the personal website and blog of Mike Benard, a biologist who studies the ecology, evolution and conservation of amphibians and other organisms. Mike can be contacted at: mfbenard -at- gmail . com.Copyright Information
Unless otherwise noted, all text and images are © Mike Benard. If you would like to use any of the material in this blog, please send me an email.Mister-toad.com
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Category Archives: Science
May 2019: Bluebirds battle House Sparrows.
This video shows a frantic bird battle that I observed in the Cleveland Metroparks in mid-May. I initially thought it was a trio of Eastern Bluebirds, with the male trying to court the female, while the was trying female trying … Continue reading
Posted in Natural History, Science, Video
Tagged bird, Natural History, Ohio, video
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Telephoto lens attachment for cell phone cameras: useful tool for citizen-science applications like iNaturalist
I have used a clip-on telephoto lens with my iPhone to get better photographs of distant animals for use in citizen-science projects like iNaturalist and HerpMapper. Continue reading
Posted in Citizen Science, Photography, Science, Uncategorized
Tagged citizen science, Frog, HerpMapper, iNaturalist
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Jean Lafitte National Park: Frogs, Lizards, Gator, Birds and Bugs
While visiting New Orleans for the 2016 Joint Meeting of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists, I had an opportunity to take a short morning trip to the Barataria Preserve of the Jean Lafitte National Park. The park is a short 30 minute … Continue reading
Posted in Natural History, Photography, Science, Uncategorized
Tagged Alligator, Anolis, Frog, lizard, spider
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Recognizing individual salamanders by their belly spots
One of the questions we are investigating in my herpetology lab is whether we can recognize individual salamanders based on the pattern of spots on their bellies. We have been studying a population of smallmouth salamanders (Ambystoma texanum) and unisexual … Continue reading
Posted in Natural History, Photography, Science
Tagged Ohio, Salamander
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Cuban Treefrog comes to Cleveland
A Caribbean frog showed up in Cleveland, Ohio, last week. It was a young Cuban TreeFrog that hitched a ride from Florida in some plant material being shipped to a Cleveland floral shop. Continue reading
Posted in Natural History, Photography, Science
Tagged Cuban Tree Frog, Florida, Frog, invasive, Ohio
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