The pretty yellow flower is from a plant with an ugly name "Big Floating Bladderwort (Utricularia inflata). I don't know the frog, maybe Peter May can help with the I.D. Taken in an unknown cypress dome in north Florida with a N70 and Sigma 105 macro on Sensia 100.

-- Larry Korhnak (lvk@gnv.ifas.ufl.edu), April 05, 1999

Answers

Well, I'm not Peter, but I'll take a stab, Larry. From what I can see, it looks to me like a barking treefrog, Hyla gratiosa. These guys are in the breeding ponds right now and will often let you walk (or canoe) right up to them. This picture is a little busy, in my opinion. It's not your fault that there is a lot of vegetation, though. Maybe a tighter framing would have helped add detail to the frog and the flower. I do like the idea quite a bit.

-- Joe Cheatwood (cheatwoo@ufl.edu), April 06, 1999.

I think this is a great shot. I love how you were able to retain detail in the flower, the frog, AND THE BLADDERS! The flowers are usually elevated on stalks well above the water, so finding the frog near a flower at water level was no easy feet. I have to disagree, Joe - profile's not right for a barker (way too long and lean), and the breeders are only in the ponds at night. They return to their terrestrial perches during the day. I think is your basic leopard frog, which is actually quite fitting, as one appellation of the beast is Rana utricularia (also sphenocephala). Never have figured out where they got that epithet - maybe because they're often in the same habitat with bladderwort? At any rate, the shot is excellent.

-- (peter.may@stetson.edu), April 06, 1999.

I'm quite enthousiastic about this picture (to put it maybe a little too decently..)! Two related 'subjects' in one frame, strong composition and the missing frog's-eye is 'suggested' by th visible one. The blu(e?)ish reflections are somewhat distracting and should at least have been somewhere else in the picture (they are important as to indicate the 'border' between water and air).

-- A.Hunia (a.hunia@dlg.agro.nl), April 06, 1999.

Peter is right, this flower grows on single floating stem (6"-8" high). I have to plead guilty of chasing this frog around the pond with this loose flower.

-- Larry Korhnak (lvk@gnv.ifas.ufl.edu), April 06, 1999.