let me explain the importance of a good dung pile.

This is probably the last post that will specifically deal with goose poop. But like I promised in my last post, "I am going to post some pictures I took of goose poop," here it is, just for you. If you count, seven geese could have made this pile but it was made by one Goose...and its sitting on a large leaf, astounding! Talking about the abundant feces at the lagoon helps me deal, psychologically, with the fact that I have to walk through them while I catch bull frogs and collect my specimens to photograph.

And now, an unoffensive photo of flowers to cleanse the pallet and provoke thought about it's placement next to the feces. Can you tell I went to (f)art school? Because I did. And I don't just sit around all day talking about goose shit, I research ecosystems and make paintings about their complexity. I have been witness to all of the grit, blood, guts, dirt, and growth in each painting. By getting my hands on a net and that net into the water, I can begin to understand how a rather complex ecosystem (the lagoon) works and make art that is well informed as well as well crafted (my art at www.janeryder.com, up on sunday!). That flower needs poop, rotten plants, and dead animals in it's soil to thrive. Thus making a pile of shit just as important as a beautiful flowering plant.

Check out the shit I've found. I'm no scientist, I read field guides, so feel free to correct me. I'll be writing specific blogs about most of these creatures complete with photos. But it won't be boring. It'll be cool and informative. I promise.

1. woodhouse toad
2. fowlers toad
3. toad tadpole
4. mad tom Catfish
5. young channel catfish
6. bullfrogs of all shapes and sizes and one that SCREAMED when I picked it up.
7. bullfrog tadpoles in all their stages of life
8. paper shell clam
9. knob shell clam
10. young bluegills (they are panfish and totally cool looking)
11. Red fin Shiner fish
12.Chimney Crayfish
13. eastern crayfish young.
14.snapping turtle
15. softshell turtle
16. Woodchuck families, they also scream.
17. a muskrat or a GIANT rat.
18. a racoons dinner.
19. beaver

This blog is going to get better and i'll leave youthe thought of my next topic...the mother fucking tadpole.