a new species of frog....

[Gato Moteado]

...for me. it's not a rare species, but just one that i had not seen on my property until today. the species is Smilisca sila and i shot these images with my nikon D850 and 105mm f/2.8 micro nikkor:

[hlthe2b]

1. So well camoflaged that I'm curious as to the predator that goes after him. BIrds?

Snakes I suppose as well....

[Gato Moteado]

3. actually, bats seem to be their main predator....

...and a particular species of frog eating bat, no less.

they can switch between synchronous and asynchronous choruses or use other acoustic tricks to fool the bats, apparently.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panama_cross-banded_tree_frog#Predators

a little more on the bats:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fringe-lipped_bat

[Callalily]

2. I bet that you were delighted to see a new species

of frogs on your property. Great photo by the way.

[Gato Moteado]

4. yes! i want the new species to just keep coming

[mike_c]

5. that 100mm range macro lens is great for small animals

Awesome images.

[Gato Moteado]

6. luckily it stays sharp even at f/22 or smaller.....

....because you really need to stop down when photographing frogs with it.

i really like shooting them with the lumix with the olympus 12-40mm f/2.8 zoom because of the depth of field....but the nikon delivers richer, higher res images.....i need to get a nikon wide angle zoom that does at least .3x repro.