Owls have the best genus names. Tyto, Asio, Bubo, Otus, Strix, to name a few. Species names like Strix nebulosa. Of course nothing beats the best genus/species name of all time, Monstera deliciosa, in the plant kingdom. I'm also quite fond of the simple names like Rattus rattus--there's just something about Rattus rattus that's charming and poetic.

Our backyard has been full of wildlife lately. Today I saw two bird species I'd never seen in our yard before--several brown-headed nuthatches and a summer tanager. I also heard a call I have never before heard, but I couldn't get sight of it. I spotted the first few hummingbirds of the year recently, and a few days ago I'm pretty sure I saw a veery.

Saturday night while we were driving back to the Toyota dealership to get our new Prius, we saw in the headlights something jumping across the road. "Look at that huge grasshopper--or--is it a frog?" "It's a frog!" It stopped before reaching the safety of the lawn on the other side of the road, so I got out of the car to help it along. As I approached it, I figured it would get scared and hop away, but it just sat there frozen in the lights. I leaned in and it still didn't move, so I scooped it up in my hands. It was really slimy; I used to play with frogs all the time when I was a kid, but they were the long, green, creek-dwelling frogs, and this one was likely a treefrog. I don't think I've ever handled a treefrog before. I put the frog down in the grass and it immediately took a giant hop into the night.