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Red-Legged Frog

Feb 2 2023/in Educational

The red-legged frog is a beautiful and secretive inhabitant of the coastal rainforest. These small frogs are found in shaded forest pools and can be recognized by the bright red colouring on their legs.

Unlike the more common pacific tree-frog whose croaking chorus is a hallmark of coastal spring evenings, the red-legged frog is rarely heard. This is not because they are silent, but rather because they do their singing underwater, sending out their mating calls up to 90 cm below the surface.

This frog is a blue-listed species of special concern in BC and requires undisturbed forested streams and wetlands in which to survive. Red-legged frogs are especially dependent on cool, shaded waters to breed, making the cool microclimate of old-growth forests an ideal habitat for them.

Hundreds of pink Fairy Puke globes scattered across a mint green carpet.

Fairy Puke Lichen

Jan 31 2023/in Educational

Among the myriad lichens that adorn and encrust the coastal rainforest, few are as striking as Icmadophila ericetorum. This mint-green carpet speckled with tiny pink globes is known as “peppermint drop lichen” or “candy lichen” to some, but in British Columbia, most prefer the evocative nickname “fairy puke lichen” to capture its unique blend of the sickly and the fanciful.

This lichen thrives on rotting logs in shaded and damp places. The green carpet is the lichen’s thallus which roughly corresponds to a plant’s leaves, whereas the pink globes (or perhaps “chunks”) are called apothecia and release reproductive spores, corresponding roughly to the fruits and flowers of a plant.

So next time you’re wondering what those interesting colours on a log might be, take a closer look and see whether it’s the leftovers of a forest fairy’s wild night out.