Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day, whether you are a Mother yourself or you are celebrating your own Mother (living, or living in your memory)! I've posted my photos so early today, as my plan was to go with two or three friends east of the city, to the wonderful Badlands. However, I have just checked the forecast for Drumheller and there is a 70% chance of precipitation (snow and rain this morning). Our destination, Horseshoe Canyon, is a very treacherous place if it has been wet or is raining. The Bentonite clay becomes extremely slippery and dangerous, and, though I was longing to go and botanize the Canyon, I am not willing to take that kind of risk. I've recently read too many stories of how people have slipped on the descent and slid all the way down to the Canyon floor. Maybe I'll just take a local drive somewhere, depending on whether our own grey skies clear.

"Many scientists believe the red-eyed tree frog developed its vivid scarlet peepers to shock predators into at least briefly questioning their meal choice.

These iconic rain-forest amphibians sleep by day stuck to leaf-bottoms with their eyes closed and body markings covered. When disturbed, they flash their bulging red eyes and reveal their huge, webbed orange feet and bright blue-and-yellow flanks. This technique, called startle coloration, may give a bird or snake pause, offering a precious instant for the frog to spring to safety.

Red-eyed tree frogs, despite their conspicuous coloration, are not venomous. They are found in tropical lowlands from southern Mexico, throughout Central America, and in northern South America. Nocturnal carnivores, they hide in the rain forest canopy and ambush crickets, flies, and moths with their long, sticky tongues.

Red-eyed tree frogs are not endangered. But their habitat is shrinking at an alarming rate, and their highly recognizable image is often used to promote the cause of saving the world's rain forests." From
animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/amphibians/red-eye...