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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Tag Archives: video
Turtles, predaceous beetles and bullfrogs eating spring peepers.
In early April 2020, I had an experience that will forever change my view of painted turtles. While watching spring peepers calling for mates, a painted turtle swam under a peeper, caught it, and swallowed it in less than 90 seconds! The turtle wasn’t the only predator hunting spring peepers that night. I also watched a predaceous diving beetle and a bullfrog hunting and eating spring peepers. Several videos here show how these predators caught and ate the spring peepers. Other videos show how spring peepers that escaped the predators. Continue reading
Posted in Natural History, Photography, Video
Tagged Bullfrog, Frog, Invertebrate, Predation, spring peeper, Turtle, video
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Red-Winged Blackbird Dad Feeds Youngster.
Here a male Red Winged Blackbird rushes around to keep a youngster fed, while the kid maintains a constant peeping reminder that it needs food. Continue reading
June 2019: Take a swim with wood frog tadpoles
An underwater video into a forested vernal pool shows the wood frog tadpoles who live there. Continue reading
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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early June 2019: Treefrog on a shaky branch, and a lonely toad
Two videos of singing amphibians from northeast Ohio in early June. A gray treefrog calls from a shaky perch, and a lonely male toad trills out his song. Continue reading
Posted in Natural History, Photography, Video
Tagged American Toad, Frog, gray treefrog, Natural History, Ohio, singing, video
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