Big Toadie has lived in my garage for the last several summers, and comes out at night and eats june bugs and other insects under the outside light. She is a Woodhouse’s toad. It’s great fun to catch june bugs and pitch them to her.

I saw this eastern plains garter snake when I was mushroom hunting.

Another shot from a few years ago that I never got around to posting here.

A couple of late night long exposures of a common grey tree frog. It was clinging to the front of my garage under the light. The first one is 30 seconds, the second is 10 seconds. I shot these on a hot night last August. 300 mm macro. I could go for some of that August heat & humidity right now.

A friend of mine found this painted turtle in his yard this summer. He brought it over to me for some pics and then I turned it loose in the water hole. It hung around for a few days and then wandered off downstream.

A large Woodhouse’s toad that lived in my garage for most of the summer. Note the extremities of a daddy longlegs sticking out of its mouth in the lower photo.

A very small tree frog on the back of my shed. Approximately 1.25″ long. 300mm macro. Note the tiny spider webs in the large version.

I was chasing this tiny baby American toad around in the dark with a flashlight the other night. I didn’t think it was ever going to hold still long enough for a shot. Eventually it stopped for breath up against the side of my shed and I got a few quick shots.

Sigma 150mm 2.8 EX Macro + Sigma 2x TC and Sigma EM-140 DG ring flash. A great setup for nighttime macros with my Canon 1D3.

A tree frog I shot in June at my Dad’s place in southeast Iowa.

I found this tiny frog on the back of my shed last night. It’s the first tree frog I’ve seen here in several years. It’s been a wet year, though the immediate vicinity could use a good shower about right now.

This young Red-tailed Hawk battled high winds to catch the tiny snake.

This big garter snake was sunning itself in a brush pile.

From Willow Slough - It’s a red-sided garter snake, not a western ribbon snake like I originally posted.

Thanks to Jeff at HerpNet for identifying this snake.

I found this small snapping turtle in the middle of the highway.

A snapping turtle I found on the side of the road. I only had my super-wide angle lens with me so I had to get right in its face.

This Black Racer (I think) has taken up residence in an old wren house. It seems to like having its meals delivered.

This should put a smile on the faces of a few Bluebirders, seeing as how they don’t like wrens very much.

I shot these over a few days. The snake has good vision and is extremely wary.

UPDATE 4/2/2011 - Jeff at HerpNet.net tells me that this is a western rat snake aka a black rat snake.