Tag: ant

Brown Beauty in the Green

A red-legged frog is visible through dense greenery along the Horsetail Falls Trail in the Columbia River Gorge in Oregon on September 11, 2011. Originals: _MG_4409.cr2 and _MG_4418.cr2

One of the areas I knew I would miss most when leaving Oregon was the Columbia River Gorge, a lush area of forest and waterfalls just half an hour’s drive from our urban Portland neighborhood. I usually went to Ridgefield when I wanted wildlife and the Gorge when I wanted trees and streams, but sometimes the Gorge had its own animals to share. This little beauty hidden below the dense undergrowth along the Horsetail Falls Trail is (I think) a red-legged frog, taken in the fall of 2011. Easily one of my favorite trails anywhere, I didn’t get to go late in our time in Oregon as it closed after devastating fires, but if I ever make it back it will be high on my list of places to visit.

An ant is starting to walk onto the frog in the picture below.

A red-legged frog on the forest floor along the Horsetail Falls Trail in the Columbia River Gorge in Oregon on September 11, 2011. Original: _MG_4360.cr2

The Last Leap

A dead lizard, its separated tail beside it, is swarmed with ants along the Watershed Trail in McDowell Sonoran Preserve

I came across this flattened lizard (a tiger whiptail I think) and took some time deciding if I was going to photograph it or not. Finally I changed lenses and took a picture as a tribute to this once beautiful creature as ants swarmed the lifeless body. The lizard had shed its tail, now lying beside it, in an unsuccessful attempt at saving its life. The trail is heavily used by mountain bikers so perhaps it wasn’t able to get out of the way of a bike or perhaps a predator killed it but got scared off before it could eat its meal. Or perhaps a hiker stepped on it, someone once stepped on a newt I was photographing (fortunately the ground was soft and the newt unharmed).

Sorry little one.