Heading for land…

Tonight was yet another failed attempt to photograph the garden foxes (one appeared a few minutes after I came indoors, and vanished at the merest glimpse of light from the window), but I did get some shots of young newts emerging from the pond. Their larval gills appear to have been almost fully reabsorbed, and their movement is still very slow.

At this stage in their development I feel reasonably secure in calling them 'efts', although the term is somewhat disputed. While there is agreement that 'eft' refers to a young newt, there are differences in opinion as to whether this refers to the true larval (aquatic/gilled) stage, or to the newly emergent land newt. If anyone has a definitive definition, please let me know.

As for the foxes… they continue to visit nightly, but other than occasional visits by Shutterbug they have proved extremely camera-shy this year. They can't avoid the trailcam though… so here are a couple of recent images.


Nature Blog Network
site stats
Camera note: newt shots taken with the Canon 7D and EF 100mm f/2.8L macro IS USM lens. The foxes caught by the Bushnell Trophy Cam.

Tags: , ,

This Post Has 10 Comments

  1. SittingFox

    9 Oct 2011

    Interesting – I haven't see newts at that age.

    I haven't seen my campus fox again but I haven't been wandering around there at 5:45am again, either :right:

  2. cakkleberrylane

    9 Oct 2011

    Very nice shots. Your trail camera seems to be doing a great job!

  3. Words

    9 Oct 2011

    Adele, I've yet to spot any newt eggs, but I think I have just about every other stage of the life-cycle.

    I'm sure you'll home in on the local foxes soon. 🙂

  4. Words

    9 Oct 2011

    Erwin, thanks!

  5. Words

    9 Oct 2011

    Lois, thanks! I'm quite pleased with this trail cam. The pictures tend to need a bit of post-processing to bring out the contrast, but it does the job and saves me sitting out there all night. 🙂

  6. serola

    10 Oct 2011

    I like the newt pictures :up:

  7. cakkleberrylane

    10 Oct 2011

    Yes, it's better to let the camera do the work when it can. I've been told we have white deer in our park and I was thinking of setting up a trail camera there – much more pleasant than fighting the mosquitoes.

  8. Words

    12 Oct 2011

    Sami, thanks!

  9. Words

    12 Oct 2011

    Lois, oh that sounds like a very good idea!

  10. Wulpen

    19 Oct 2012

    A Nice set Of Pict

Comments are closed.

Close Menu