Herpetology Demonstration

This morning we went to a reptile and amphibian demonstration given by herpetologist Mr. O'Neal at their house for our homeschool group.  His program was very interesting and funny with lots of time to get up close and personal with these fascinating creatures.

There were frogs, toads, salamanders, other amphibians, turtles, lizards, snakes, and alligators.  We learned the most important difference between reptiles and amphibians is that amphibians go through metamorphasis whereas reptiles do not.

Here are a few pictures to enjoy. (There were several more animals than shown here including the tiger salamander, several snakes, stinkpot turtle, various toads, skink lizard, and probably some others that I somehow missed getting pictures of them.) All are native to Arkansas except where noted.

Soft shell turtle

Bullfrog

Red-ear slider turtle

Common snapping turtle

Alligator snapping turtle

Anole - not native but found around our universities

Amphiuma - Arkansas' largest amphibian

Kingsnake

Various snakes

Copperhead

Rattlesnake

Young North American alligator

North American alligator (his name was "Norton" lol)

Snow Day

Yay!  It snowed!  Can you believe it?

I had planned on starting lessons today, but since snow is scarcer than Christmas around here, I let Big T and Little A have a snow day.  Good thing, because as of 3:00 this afternoon most of it was melted.

Actually, it started snowing yesterday evening.  Just a light dusting...

Big T and Little A with the first snowballs of the year (and decade.)

Then it snowed all night and most of this morning until around noon.  Here are a few pictures out and about Dragonfly corner:

Going for a walk:

Icy stream:

Around the pond at the end of the road: