I have been working on some amphibian species accounts (Red-spotted Toad, Coastal Plain Toad, Texas Toad, Cliff & Rio Grande Chirping Frogs) along with working on a page for general natural history of amphibians and another one for diversity. The two latter pages should be posted by next week. Got a chance to make a short visit to the southern Appalachian Mountains and saw 5-6 species of salamanders. I was able to get good photographs & video of Eastern American Toads breeding. Today, I visited Horicon National Wildlife Refuge to look mainly for Yellow-headed Blackbirds, but no luck on spotting them. I was able get some great shots of Song Sparrows and House Wrens.

So the action plan will be: finished up World of Amphibian & Amphibian diversity page. Work on more amphibian species accounts, such as Eastern American Toad, Couch's Spadefoot Toads, Bullfrogs & Green Frogs.

As far as new material, will work very hard on getting photographs of Northern Water Snakes and more pictures of Blue Spotted Salamanders this week.

Over the last 6 months, I have mainly be working on bird species accounts. Several warbler species are added, along with Green & Brown Jays, Great Kiskadees and Gray Catbird. Recently added a Snowy Owl to my lifelist, but it was too far away for sharp photographs.

It has almost been a year since the last time I updated this section. I have done alot, in September of 2008, I photographed Saw-whet owls, black bears in february, ornate box turtles in april, blue racers & milksnakes in july. New species accounts for blue racers and Eastern Milksnakes, and also more photographs of Ornate Box Turtesl. From April to July, I did alot of photography work with Golden-winged Warbers & Blue-winged Warblers. The main project for this year was an article on Turtle Conservation.

When out on a Map turtle survey trip on the Wisconsin River, found only one species: Ouachita Map Turtle. I put up a species account for it earlier this week. Added alittle new content and a couple of new pictures of Whooping Cranes. Still no luck finding a badger.....

Finished the species account for the Northern Red-bellied Snake. Species accounts have been going kind of slow this month, mainly because of time in the field. Photographed a Cope's Treefrog earlier this week. Also found a site to photograph Tiger Salamander Larvae. At Sandhill, I have my slights on a Badge sometime before the end of this month (hopefully!).

Last week, I changed the fish section to US fishes, rather than Texas fishes. I will be doing more work on amphibian list for the next couple of days.

Finished both of Dick Thiel's books on Wisconsin wolves. Great read. Currently reading Steve Goom's The Return of the Wolf and Peter Matthiessen's The Birds of Heaven.The weather is great, hope you are outside verting.

Finished up species account on the Blanding's Turtle and Western Fox Snake. I will be looking to photograph Smooth Green Snakes and Tiger Salamander larvae in Wood and Sauk counties. I would also like to add more content to the Common Snapping Turtle's species account. Plan to pick up a copy of Biology of the Snapping Turtle sometime in the next couple of weeks. Also need to finish species account for Chihuahuan Spotted Whiptail. Changed the fish section from Texas fishes to U.S fishes.

I have been learning about wolves in Wisconsin, currently reading Dick Thiel's The Timber Wolf in Wisconsin and will be moving on to Dick's The Timber Wolf in Wisconsin: The Death and Life of a Majestic Predator, next.

Added a new section on Biodiversity. Not sure if I'm happy with it. Something is missing. Maybe more on the importance of biodiversity and how it relates to people. I'm going to have to read E.O. Wilson's the Diversity of Life, for more insight.

The last couple of weeks, I have been working on the Amphibian section. Still compiling the species list for U.S. Amphibians, thank god for CNAH and their frog/salamander list. Also did a Amphibian profile and a photography page. The entire section will be posted as soon as the species list is done (next week).

Mammals is the next group to be worked on, and then fish. Since moving to Wisconsin, I have added several new species to my personal life list. Such as Eastern Chipmunk, Thirteen-lined ground squirrel, American Red squirrel, musk rat and beaver.

As far as birds, the past couple of weeks, I have been working on Egrets and Herons. Still have much to do.

I've done quite a bit of photography work on Blanding's Turtles lately. Plan to get a species account on them soon. Thankfully, Monica's field work has opened up a door to helping out with a Blanding's turtle survey work up at Sandhill Wildlife Area.