Category: amphibians

My eponymous bufonid has been made part of a high-profile conservation campaign

August 5, 2026 • 11:00 am

The ponderous title above was from Greg Mayer when he emailed me the information below. To wit: there is a new project, called the Phoenix Species project, which is described at its own site, at re:wild, and in the New York Times. It is a great project, has targeted 100 very endangered species for saving, and does not involve Colossal trying to “de-extinct” species via genetic tweaking,

From the Phoenix page:

The Phoenix Species Project is a global effort to recover 100 of the world’s most threatened species by providing sustained support for the local champions with the experience and knowledge to lead their recovery.

The project begins with a $200 million commitment, with $100 million from Leonardo DiCaprio’s Re:wild and $100 million from the Bezos Earth Fund, with support from Leonardo DiCaprio, Age of Union, and the Todd Graves Family Foundation. The project’s 100 species span mammals, amphibians, reptiles, birds, fish, invertebrates, and plants from 30 countries that live across a range of habitats, from oceans to freshwater lakes, tropical rainforests to volcanic plains.

Here’s a short video about the Project:

You can see the species chosen for special funding at this site.  The NYT says this:

The hundred species were chosen because they were near extinction, had local organizations already working to save them and represent a diversity of habitats, countries and types of species.

. . . For the fuzzy belly button plant, a succulent that has lost more than two-thirds of its population to harvesting since 2019, when it became very popular abroad, the money will allow conservationists to breed more plants in captivity, buy trail cameras for security and fund work with communities so the plant can be returned to the wild without getting overharvested again, said Domitilla Raimondo, the threatened species program manager at the South African National Biodiversity Institute.

“They’re not as charismatic as a panda bear or a rhino, so they don’t tend to get the love and attention that other species get,” she said. “What is really great about this Phoenix recovery plan is it’s giving equal love to different species.”

Still, it includes only three invertebrates, among them a snail in Tahiti, and no insects.

Vivek Menon, chair of the Species Survival Commission at the International Union for Conservation of Nature, said the 100 species were a “fantastic first step” and emphasized the need to scale quickly.

More than 11,000 species are classified as either critically endangered or extinct in the wild on the I.U.C.N. Red List, the leading global scientific authority on the status of species. Almost 40,000 more are endangered or vulnerable.

That averages out to $2 million per species, a goodly amount. Greg sent me this information because one of the targeted species, shown below, is my very own frog, Atelopus coynei, which my late friend Ken Miyata and I collected in the coastal rain forests of Ecuador in 1976 (it now has its own Wikipedia page, and you can see all my posts on this story here.).  Ken named it after me because, when we were in graduate school at Harvard’s Museum of Comparative Zoology, he ran out of dough and I loaned him $500.

From the paper giving the description in Breviora:

And Ken’s note about the origin of the species name:

For many years I thought A. coynei had gone  completely extinct, but a population was discovered in Ecuador by Andreas Kay in 2012, and now there are several disjunct populations in Ecuador. One is where reader Lou Jost lives and works (the Dracula Reserve described below). I see it’s been given the common name Río Faisanes Harlequin Toad. And I had no idea that the world population is down to 250 individuals. From Wikipedia:

It currently found in only four disjunct areas in Carchi Province, including two locations in Río Chinambi and the Dracula Reserve, a private protected conservation area in Carchi Province, north-western Ecuador, which was established through the effort of the Rainforest Trust, EcoMinga Foundation, and Orchid Conservation Alliance.

Click on the screenshots to go to the Phoenix page:

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Another photo from the Dracula Reserve, this taken by Juan Pablo Reyes and Jordy Salazar/EcoMinga. The frog is much prettier than the photo above suggests, with lime green spots on a brown body, jazzed up with white racing stripes:

From the Phoenix site:

The Río Faisanes Harlequin Toad is a small amphibian that lives in the high-altitude cloud forests of the Ecuadorian Andes. The species is rare, and scientists have only ever found it in a handful of spots. In 1976, scientists described the species from a subpopulation the Río Faisanes River, the species namesake. Now, scientists think that the species likely only lives in two places. One is in the municipal protected area ACUS Río Chinambí and the other is the privately protected Dracula Reserve. Both localities are in Carchi province.

The disease chytridiomycosis and the degradation of the Río Faisanes Harlequin Toad’s forest habitat from agriculture, logging and human settlements have caused dramatic declines in the species. The toad was even lost to science from 1984 until 2012, even though scientists had tried searching for it.

The Río Faisanes Harlequin Toad is active during the day, especially in the rain, where it spends most of its time along the rocky river banks and stream beds. At night the toads will move to leaves that overhang the water. When it comes time to breed, the species lays eggs in fast-flowing streams and rivers attached to rocks.

I see I’m being solipsistic, concentrating on only one species out of 100.  Forgive me, but I’m glad there’s money for them all. It’s a good project, but if you read the NYT, you’ll see the paper beefing about how Amazon, which donated half the money, is responsible for environmental degradation. But let’s hope the money does help to save some of these critically endangered species, especially the eponymous bufonid

Spot the toads!

June 13, 2026 • 8:15 am

Today we have another “spot the” feature from Robert Lang, whose commentary is indented below.  Spot the two frogs! There will be a reveal at 11 a.m. Chicago time.

The last two days on early-morning hikes, I’ve encountered literally dozens of tiny frogs hopping across the trail—so many that I had to watch my step to avoid them. Fortunately, on the light, sandy trail, they stand out pretty well, but once they get into the leaf litter on either side, they practically vanish. Today I brought my phone-camera on the hike, which means that it’s time for yet another “Spot the Froggies!”

My previous “Spot the Froggies” were California Tree Frogs (Pseudacris cadaverina), whose gray color made for perfect camouflage against streambed granite. I think these might be California Toads (Anaxyrus boreas halophilus)—I’ve seen full-size adults of the latter in this area, and I think I make out the beginnings of the white stripe running down the back of these subadults. I invite firm IDs from our herpetological expert fellow readers. These were taken along the Arroyo Seco, above JPL [Jet Propulsion Laboratory] in Pasadena.

Here’s the “Spot-the” photo; there are two frogs in the picture (though it wouldn’t surprise me if there were more that I overlooked). Also attached is a close-up of one on my hand. (That’s his left leg extended, not a tadpole tail.)

Click to enlarge (I rate this “fairly easy”).  Please don’t reveal where they are in the comments, but you’re welcome to tell us if you found them, and how many you saw.

Again, reveal at 11 a.m. Chicago time.

Spot the tree frogs!

May 27, 2026 • 7:30 am

It’s been a long time since we’ve had a “spot the. . . ” challenge, but Robert Lang submitted one. His caption, indented below, tells you that there are three frogs in the photo. Can you spot them all? There will be a reveal at 11:30 a.m.  Robert wrote this:

It’s been a while since you’ve had a “Spot the…” photo, and I think this one qualifies. Here we’re looking for California Tree Frogs (Pseudacris cadaverina). The first one is obvious. The challenge is to spot the other two (total of three). This was taken in the Arroyo Seco in Southern California, on the way up the creek bed to Royal Falls.

Of course you must click the photo to enlarge it for starting your search.  PLEASE DO NOT GIVE THE ANSWER IN THE COMMENTS so that everyone can have a go without pointers.

 

Readers’ wildlife photos

May 17, 2026 • 8:15 am

Send in your wildlife photos! I am almost out. Thank you in advance.

Today we have miscellaneous photos from the Catskills taken by reader Jan Malik. Jan’s captions and IDs are indented, and you can enlarge them by clicking on them.

Here is another batch of pictures from my hikes in the Central Catskills this April and May. They are not too artistic, given the fast pace that a weekend backpacking hike demands, but they give a sample of what common animals a casual hiker can see in these “mountains” (the Catskills are an eroded plateau and, despite being steep in places, they are too low to have an alpine zone).

White‑tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus), right in the parking lot at a cloudy sunrise. It was slurping water from a muddy puddle despite a clear stream flowing nearby, so it must have been leftover salt that attracted this ungulate. Woodstock residents like their roads well salted. One has to drive carefully at dusk around Woodstock, as there are many deer browsing on lawns and gardens.

In the woodland, I found the first of many red efts of the Eastern newt (Notophthalmus viridescens). This is an intermediate land stage of development between the aquatic larva and adult forms. Red efts have lungs, but air exchange through the skin is also important, supplying 30–40% of their oxygen demand. They travel through the forest litter when it is humid enough—after rain or in the early morning:

This is probably a blue‑headed vireo (Vireo solitarius), collecting nesting materials. If my identification is correct, then it is not possible to tell a male from a female, as they are sexually monomorphic and share rearing duties almost equally. Interestingly, however, a female may desert the nest just before fledging to mate with another available male:

Possibly an Eastern comma (Polygonia comma), found at higher elevation:

Black‑and‑white warbler (Mniotilta varia). I think this is a male. If so, he may be led by a female into the territory of another male to provoke a fight and allow her to judge his fitness. These birds occupy a similar niche to nuthatches and brown creepers; they climb and circle tree trunks to find arthropods:

Eastern towhee (Pipilo erythrophthalmus), male. These colorful sparrows hang around the edges of forest clearings:

Eastern American toad (Anaxyrus americanus americanus), hiding in a ramps patch. I wonder whether they would prey on red efts or if the efts’ foul taste would be a deterrent:

While passing through oak woods rich with acorns, I heard many alarm chirps from Eastern chipmunks (Tamias striatus). Most made themselves scarce as I approached, but one remained on guard duty:

Not a good picture, but here is a dark‑eyed junco (Junco hyemalis). These are hardy birds, staying year‑round in the forest. In winter they form close‑knit flocks with a few dominant individuals and a strict pecking order:

Chipping sparrow (Spizella passerina) on the side of a quiet road. These migrate to more southern states in winter and in summer nest closer to human settlements:

Mourning cloak (Nymphalis antiopa). There were a couple of them in the area, continuously jousting in the air for control of the territory. I see them every spring in that exact spot, but this year they were too engaged in battling each other to stay still, so this is a picture taken a few years back:

Brown creeper (Certhia americana), shown here just a moment after eating a couple of mayflies. They are common enough, but I rarely see them due to their near‑perfect camouflage. Without directly comparing the bill length it is difficult to tell a female from a male:

Readers’ wildlife photos

March 9, 2026 • 8:15 am

I have a few batches now, so I’m complacent (never happy!). Today’s photos of Costa Rica come from reader Rachel Sperling.  Her captions and IDs are indented, and you can enlarge the photos by clicking on them.

In January I took my first (of many, I hope) trip to Costa Rica. We spent about a week in Manuel Antonio, on the Pacific Ocean side. We took a couple of nature walks in and around Manuel Antonio National Park, and we saw plenty of wildlife. One of these days I’m going to treat myself to a really good camera, but these were all taken with either my mirrorless Olympus or my iPhone camera, which are light and easy to stash in a backpack. I did see a couple of sloths – both three-toed (Bradypus variegatus) and Hoffman’s two-toed (Choloepus hoffmanni), but they were high up in the trees, so I wasn’t able to get a good photo of them.  These are the photos I was able to capture:

On the drive from San Jose to Manuel Antonio, we stopped at a creek to view some American crocodiles (Crocodylus acutus):

We saw a number of Central American Squirrel monkeys (Saimiri oerstedii), which were incredibly cute:

Then there were these little beasts: the Costa Rican mafia, aka the Panamanian/Central American White-faced capuchin (Cebus imitator). According to our guide, these monkeys can be pretty vicious with animals their own size, and they’ll just riffle through your backpack if you’re not watchful. Someone had to be on guard whenever we went to the beach.

We went on a nature walk in the rainforest at night (with a guide), which gave us the opportunity to see a lot of nocturnal animals. Among them was the Red-eyed tree frog (Agalychnis callidryas):

Masked tree frog/New Granada cross-banded tree frog (Smilisca phaeota) in Manuel Antonio National Park. I’m sorry I’m not better at identifying plants, to the disappointment of my botany-teacher father:

Black iguana (Ctenosaura similis), at the beach at Manuel Antonio:

We also saw a coati (Nasua narica), which Wikipedia tells me are diurnal, but it was definitely after sunset and that is definitely a coati. They’re relatives of the raccoon, and our guide told us that a mature one can hold its own against a jaguar. This one wasn’t afraid of us, anyhow:

Back at our b&b, this Black-hooded antshrike (Thamnophilus bridgesi) came to visit me as I read on the veranda a few times. I think it’s a female, though the sexual dimorphism of this species doesn’t seem terribly dramatic. I did see her building a nest:

On my last day in Costa Rica, I heard a tremendous ruckus in the trees outside my hotel in San Jose. I looked and discovered that the trees (American oil palms —Elaeis oleifera —I think) were full of Crimson-fronted parakeets (Psittacara finschi). They were LOUD and they were going to town on those trees. There were too many to count. Fortunately, they quieted down after sunset:

Manuel Antonio National Park from the water. These little islands are bird sanctuaries that tourists are not allowed to visit:

Sunset over the Pacific, near Manuel Antonio National Park:

Nauyaca Waterfalls, near Dominicalito, where we swam:

Finally, I thought you’d like these because they’re jaguar-inspired. We spent an afternoon at a village belonging to the Boruca, an indigenous tribe. They cooked us a delicious lunch, and showed us how they made dyes from local plants, and carved and painted balsa wood masks. The masks were first used to frighten the Conquistadores. Now you can buy them just about everywhere:

Readers’ wildlife photos

February 7, 2026 • 8:30 am

Today we have urban wildlife, from Marcel van Oijen in Edinburgh.  His notes are indented, and you can enlarge the photos by clicking on them.

Urban wildlife in Scotland: Vertebrates

Marcel van Oijen

 

We live in Edinburgh South and our back garden borders a small woodland. The following pictures were all taken in the garden over a number of years, but I sorted them by month, from January to November.

Foxes (Vulpes vulpes) are among the first visitors to our garden each year. They have become very common in British cities. There are about 400,000 foxes in the U.K., and roughly one third are city-dwellers.

Magpies (Pica pica) come in droves to our garden. They are fascinating to watch but tend to frighten off the songbirds and steal their food:

Occasionally we see sparrowhawks (Accipiter nisus) plucking pigeons apart until what is left is small enough to fly away with. The magpies resent the sparrowhawks invading their territory, and gang up against them:

Carrion crows (Corvus corone) usually come in pairs; this one was an exception. The way it walked, paused, looked around, nodded its head, inspecting everything – it all suggested confidence and cleverness:

We do not often see Great Spotted Woodpeckers (Dendrocopos major), but regularly hear them pecking away when walking in the woodland behind the garden:

The mammals we see the most are our American friends, the Grey Squirrels (Sciurus carolinensis). They tend to chase ach other away, but these two were friendly, maybe young siblings:

We are always surprised to see amphibians because there is not much open water in our neighbourhood. This summer visitor is a Common Frog (Rana temporaria):

Wood mice (Apodemus sylvaticus) are almost as acrobatic as the squirrels, and we see them climbing up the stems of plants and jumping onto the birdfeeders:

We don’t see hedgehogs (Erinaceus europaeus) often enough – we would like them to eat more of the slugs that invade our house from the garden:

This is the more common behaviour of the Grey Squirrels (Sciurus carolinensis): entering supposedly squirrel-proof birdfeeders and being nasty to each other:

We often see pheasants (Phasianus colchicus) around the golf course one kilometer away, but last November was the first time one came to see us: