Cope's Gray Tree Frog, Slugs Love Beer, Plus the Day Lilies and the Hummingbird

Never fear we aren't finished with the Harris Hawk, nor hawks in general but the Harris piece is taking a very long time to put together.  Therefore today's  an intermission...

I was out picking Japanese Beetles off just about everything that is capable of photosynthesis in my domain when I pulled back a Rhubarb leaf for inspection...TA DA!

                            Cope's Gray Tree Frog

 Yes, I know, he isn't gray.  As it turns out a Cope's Gray Tree Frog can be gray to green to brown.  Seems like one would just call him a Cope's Tree Frog right?   But no, too easy.

I've enlarged the photo for better detail but he is actually about one and half to two inches long. 

If you'd like to hear what he sounds like click the link below.
 http://dnr.wi.gov/org/caer/ce/eek/critter/amphibian/cope.htm

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Not the sharpest shot in the world but it does give documentation.  See the yellow on his abdomen and inner leg?  One of the field marks of Cope's.

Actually it rather looks ot me as if he is wearing socks.  Highly unlikely of course.

If you look carefully you will see another field mark, rather oversize very sticky toes. 

I had been having trouble with slugs wrecking all of my strawberries of late.  I remembered as a child reading that slugs LOVE beer and and that this love could be capitalized on when they were wrecking your garden.

The trick is as slugs love beer you put beer in saucers around your garden.  They can't wait to get some so they crawl into the saucer have some beer, wallow in it, oops, and then it's curtains.

See there is only a little beer in this edge of the saucer.  They could have scooted to the verge, drunk their fill and then scooted away.  But no, they drank to excess and see what happened.  A cautionary tale for us all.  Do not swim in beer.

I had been seeing for some near evenings of late a hummingbird making a practice of visiting the feeder but also taking nips from the Tiger Lilies.

 What must it feel like to be able to put your full weight on a flower and not crush it?

 And here's the little fellow coming in for a landing on a mulberry twig.

Happy Hawking....
Donegal Browne