Christmas Frogs

Bloomingdale's
59th Street, Manhattan

The holiday windows in NYC are something to see.  With seven million of your closest friends.  This years most over-the-top display was Sak's Fifth Avenue, where the light show pretty much brought Fifth Avenue to a stop.  In one little corner of the Bloomingdale's display, though, there was this guy:

 

Frog Graffiti

Wilson Avenue
Bushwick, Brooklyn

NYC Frog Project on the Road

New Jersey State Fair
Sussex Co. Fairgrounds, NJ

I had some time to kill at the NJ State Fair while my family and friends were risking their lives on the ferris wheel, so I took some pictures of cheap stuffed frogs in their natural habitat.

NYC Frog Project On The Road

Sitka, AK
Sitka National Historical Park

Sitka National Historical Park has a wonderful display of totem poles.  Their web site tells the story of Alaska governor John Green Brady, who collected totem poles to exhibit at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1904 and at the Louis and Clark Centennial Exposition in Portland, Oregon, in 1905.  According to the NPS: "Concerned that traditional art appeared to be disappearing from sparsely populated coastal villages, Brady conceived the idea of collecting totem poles and bringing them to a place where they could be preserved and people, including tourists, could view them."  The totem poles returned to Sitka, and by 1906 they were on display; the site was designated a National Monument in 1910.

NYC Frog Project On the Road

Juneau, AK

The mural on Juneau City Hall, painted by Bill C. Ray, Jr. in 1988, depicts the Tlingit creation story "Raven Discovering Mankind in a Clam Shell."  This is a detail of the frog.

You can see the whole mural here.

Frogs of the TImes

Frogs with a Venomous Head Butt

According to the article:  "A single gram of toxic secretion from A. brunoi is enough to kill 300,000 mice or about 80 people. . . . It's unlikely a small frog can deliver a gram of venom in a single jab, but the researchers are planning to err on the side of caution."

Photo credit:  New York Times

NYC Frog Project On The Road

Fernandina Beach, FL

Frogs of the Times

Finding a Toad with a New York Accent

"Finding a toad in New York City used to be easier. Fowler’s toad (Bufo fowleri) ranges through much of southeast New York State and has been the five boroughs’ familiar toad for centuries — at least it was through my Canarsie childhood. Both Fowler’s and American toads may still be city residents, but it is getting harder and harder to find either."

Photo credit:  New York Times

NYC Frog Project On The Road

Fountain of the Frogs
Seville, Spain

The Fuente de las Ranas (Fountain of the Frogs) is in Maria Luisa Park in Seville.  Originally palace gardens, they were rebuilt for the Ibero-American Exposition of 1929.  There are eight frogs surrounding a duck and turtle, which sit in the middle of the fountain.  From what I gather from this Spanish blog, the fountain dates from around 1914 and has been restored several times since then (1970, 1992); it also seems to be the target of fairly frequent vandalism.

Frogs of the Times

A Frog that Can Change Skin Texture

"A new species of frog discovered in Ecuador is the first vertebrate known to change its skin texture from smooth to spiny, researchers say."  According to the article, the frog, discovered in 2006, is about the size of a marble.  

Photo from the New York Times

Playground Frogs

Dan Ross Playground
Bay Ridge Brooklyn

Winter storm Juno might not have been the snowmageddon they promised, but we got a snow day and finally took pictures of our local playground frog.

Christmas Visitor

We don't do it up quite like Dyker Heights, but folks in my neighborhood, Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, really know how to decorate for Christmas.

Still, this was the best display I've seen all season.