Photo of the Month: the Battlefield of Love!
Eric's shameless promotion cracked me up, and I figured I'd give it a go as well.
Check out my photo entry in the Photo of the Month contest:
http://www.frogforum.net/photo-month...ry-2011-a.html
If you are a fan of the picture, or of the story behind it (read on), then vote for my photo!
I took this photo the summer after I earned my bachelors degree. At the time, I was studying tropical ecology in Guatemala and Belize. Prior to arriving in Guatemala, I was depressed because it looked like we might have arrived before the rains. The nearby pond that we were scheduled to visit was a dry, grassy pit. But, lo and behold! The first or second night of our stay, it POURED. When we next checked the pond, it was a cacophony of calls - so loud that you had to shout to your neighbor. There were so many species boasting their fertility all at once, including the casque-headed treefrogs (Triprion petasatus). Although this species was among my top three target species, I didn't actually believe that we would find them. That night, I was surrounded by them and their duck-like call.
I watched the pair in the photo form. Two or three males were calling within aprox. one meter of one another. The female landed on a branch above the male in the pic, and he quickly scrambled up to amplex her. From there, it was a tricky journey out of the reeds and into the center of the pond. At least three other males attempted to dislodge this male, and at one point the female was traveling with two on her back. But, finally, at long last, they reached deeper water and escaped the attention of the satellite males.
After having watched all of this, I looked up and realized that I was only one of two people remaining in the pond. Apparently, hours had flown by, and my comrades had retired to their beds to enjoy One Barrel and the sound of the frogs. It was one of the best nights of the trip.
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