Nature

Cicada

We went camping at the beach for the weekend. As soon as we were out of the car, I found one lonely Cicada. I am holding onto the cicada on a piece of bark.

This was the hole that the Cicada emerged from as a fully grown nymph. Jacob discovered it.

This exoskeleton was found on the side of the tree, right next to the Cicada.

A newly hatched cicada. We think it is a Razor Grinder.

Discovering a Hawk Moth

We found this pupa in our back yard, so we made a habitat in a fish bowl with dirt, bark and leaves. We did not know what it was so we observed and studied it. It took a few days but eventually it came out as a beautiful moth. I think I have identified it as a Hawk Moth.

I have never seen one like this before, the colours and marking were very nice.

Jacob and I had a short hold of the moth before we released it.

We released the moth in our garden. It seemed to like these coloured flowers best.

Visit to the Reptile Centre

This is me at the reptile centre holding my favourite snake, the Diamond Python. I really enjoy the touch tanks also, which contain Blue Tongues, Shingle Backs and Bearded Dragons.

This is another reptile display that I went to at the National Botanic Gardens. I had the chance to hold more snakes and lizards. This lizard is a Bearded Dragon.

This is my favourite lizard, the Blue Tongue. I have just purchased a reptile field guide and I am hoping to see a Pygmy Blue Tongue on our trip around Australia. They were once thought to be extinct, but scientists discovered one in South Australia.

Frogs

We were very fortunate to have the experience of observing frogs eggs spawn, hatch into tadpoles and metamorphose into frogs. Someone who had a pond gave us the egg mass to set up in a tank at home. It was a wonderful experience.

Here you can see the eggs changing from a small black dot into a larger shape with tiny tails within a few days.

One tadpole who hibernated on the bottom of the pond over winter started his metamorphosis the next summer. It grew front legs and back legs but still had its tail. It is called a froglet.

Now he (we called him Biggy) has strong legs and his tail shrank to just a stump.

As you can see he is now a full grown frog, preferring the rock to the water.

We identified him as a Marsh Frog, native to the ACT.