the online meeting place for all who love our amphibians and reptiles |
|
Frog spawn found in tree |
Post Reply |
Author | |
Liz Heard
Senior Member Joined: 27 Apr 2010 Location: South West Status: Offline Points: 1429 |
Post Options
Thanks(0)
Posted: 03 Mar 2016 at 8:02pm |
Hi folks,
This was about 1.5 m up from the ground in a damp woodland and approx 50 m or so from the nearest standing water. Remote location so i'm sure it was nothing anthropocentric. There were no signs of any claw marks of an animal climbing up the tree, and nothing further i could detect on the tree limb, nor any sign of disturbance underneath either. Any suggestions whodunnit Will, Caleb or anyone? A heron? Seems a very low branch for one of those, but i'm no bird expert! On upper horizontal branch, centre right of pic: ???? |
|
will
Senior Member Joined: 27 Feb 2007 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 1830 |
Post Options
Thanks(0)
|
Hi Ben, I love a mystery! kids? they have been known to chuck frogspawn around. The lack of any entrails / other signs is puzzling - normally there's some viscera left over if the poor frog has been nabbed by a crow, rat etc. Maybe there were some frog remains higher up the tree? (heron might have perched at the top and the egg mass went splat onto the lower bough - a 'tree down' hypothesis, rather than 'ground-up' if you see what I mean?)
|
|
AGILIS
Senior Member Joined: 27 Feb 2007 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 1689 |
Post Options
Thanks(0)
|
It a tree frogs spawn
|
|
LOCAL ICYNICAL CELTIC ECO WARRIOR AND FAILED DRUID
|
|
Caleb
Senior Member Joined: 11 Apr 2011 Status: Offline Points: 660 |
Post Options
Thanks(0)
|
I'm told that herons always eat their prey whole, and regurgitate undigestible bones etc. as pellets like owls do. I'd guess that any frogspawn they might regurgitate wouldn't look as clean as this.
'Tree down' is a good theory, I vote that Ben should climb the tree to look for any frog entrails.
|
|
Liz Heard
Senior Member Joined: 27 Apr 2010 Location: South West Status: Offline Points: 1429 |
Post Options
Thanks(0)
|
Thanks guys, 'tree down' may be right - should have thought to look up. D'oh! No chance of returning there tho' Caleb. It's miles away. However, herons certainly regurgitate spawn. I tastefully posted some pics of heron regurgitate from a field trip with HART (the Hereford ARG) a couple of years ago, and there was some among it, along with bits of frog and invertebrate cases.
Very good Keith. |
|
AGILIS
Senior Member Joined: 27 Feb 2007 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 1689 |
Post Options
Thanks(0)
|
Mattter of interest Liz did you try to recycled back to some nearby water?
|
|
LOCAL ICYNICAL CELTIC ECO WARRIOR AND FAILED DRUID
|
|
Liz Heard
Senior Member Joined: 27 Apr 2010 Location: South West Status: Offline Points: 1429 |
Post Options
Thanks(0)
|
No, it wasn't any good Keith.
|
|
Caleb
Senior Member Joined: 11 Apr 2011 Status: Offline Points: 660 |
Post Options
Thanks(0)
|
I found your 'heron regurgitate' post, for anyone else that didn't see it, or who wants second helpings:
|
|
will
Senior Member Joined: 27 Feb 2007 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 1830 |
Post Options
Thanks(0)
|
thanks for 'bringing that up' again Caleb...
|
|
Post Reply | |
Tweet
|
Forum Jump | Forum Permissions You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot create polls in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum |