November 2, 2006 Issue                                       

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©2006 The Chestnut Hill Local

Local photographer and scientist explores puddle frogs in new book
by KRISTIN PAZULSKI

Doug Wechsler (Photo by Debbie Carr Wechsler)

At the age of five, Doug Wechsler was already fascinated with birds. He claims he cannot remember where the passion came from, but recalls being fixated on their flights, landing, habits and patterns.

His passion for birds, a step above his second interest in the creepy crawlers living at the mercy of pedestrians’ feet, earned him the freedom to work in the sciences and apply his knowledge to the writing of children’s books.

“As a kid, I knew all of the birds, snakes, frogs and salamanders of the neighborhood,” Wechsler said. “I enjoy writing for children because I really feel the need to inspire them to explore nature. They are the future guardians of nature. And it’s fun because you can use a certain kind of humor in the books that wouldn’t work on adults.”

Wechsler, a Chestnut Hill resident, recently published a children’s book titled Frog Heaven: Ecology of a Vernal Pool, adding to his two earlier books (Bizarre Birds and Bizarre Bugs) and three six-book series on snakes, birds and frogs.

Since many adults do not even know what a vernal pool is, his latest book reveals a whole world that surrounds the filling and emptying of these woodland “puddles,” as many view them.

“The pools can often be invisible to land owners,” Wechsler said. “They just see it as a puddle in the woods that can crop up sometimes. There’s a lot more going on than is visible to the casual eye.”

The book explains the different life cycles, according to the seasons, of frogs, salamanders and snakes, as well as insects and their larvae and some of the plant life that create a lively but little-known environment in these pools.

The specific pools focused on in the book are the vernal pools in central Delaware, which Wechsler has spent about 15 years visiting and studying.

Initially, he had no intention of writing a book and would visit the pools simply for his own enjoyment and curiosity, but he added, “I had the opportunity to watch and photograph that environment — I thought I should share it with others.”

Wechsler’s expertise extends well beyond children’s books, the vernal pools of Delaware and the birds of his hometown in New York that ignited his life-long passion.

Wechsler oversees the Visual Resources for Ornithology at The Academy of Natural Sciences, a collection of more than 40,000 photos of birds and the largest collection of bird photographs in the world. He has worked at the Academy for 19 years, and he said he has taken about five percent of that large collection of photographs himself.

But getting photos of rare, exotic birds is a bit tougher than sifting through the leaves and foliage of a vernal pool for camouflaged frogs and salamanders.

Wechsler has traveled to four continents, seeking birds and photographing them – sometimes in their natural habitat, but more often as the birds flit through a natural, though contained, environment.

To get his photos, Wechsler and those accompanying him travel to Central America, Africa, Asia and other places where they know the birds they are seeking live. They first capture the birds in nets that appear to be invisible (he said this rarely causes injury) and put them in a tented enclosure surrounding an otherwise natural habitat for the photo.

“I set up the tent, which is about three meters long, and one meter high and one meter wide,” described Wechsler. “Then I put branches and leaves in it. Inside, I set up a couple of flashes. I sit on the outside and poke my camera through the opening in the front.”

The enclosures help control the bird’s movement, but are not foolproof. He and an Academy of Natural Sciences co-worker were in Ecuador to photograph a bird species his co-worker had discovered. After capturing the Jocatoca Antpitta, he brought it into the enclosure, but after only a few photos, the bird managed to find the small flap opening and escaped.

Wechsler said he was fortunate not to have faced more dangerous problems on his exotic journeys. Most of the time, he said, he and colleagues join larger groups on expedition trips. The largest group was a tour of about 60, where Wechsler actually served as the expedition’s photographer.

He shared an experience from one expedition, however, that could have gotten him in trouble but turned out to be funny instead.

The group traveled to West Kalimantan, an island of Indonesia. The citizens of this island greeted them with three-days of welcoming ceremonies before they started the expedition into the forest on the island, Wechsler said. During each day’s festivities, there were nature dressings, dancing with swords, chicken sacrifices and, most notably, “imbibing tuak,” which Wechsler described as a palm brew.

“I was required to drink it — two whole bamboos full,” said Wechsler, who is not much of a drinker. He said he was highly affected by the brew, but had to continue to take photos of the events.

“It was quite a scene,” he recalled.

At another of the ceremonies, he danced with swords, which he said he was not very good at.

“I was kind of pathetic actually, but they thought it was funny,” he said. Wechsler’s latest book is available at The Academy of Natural Sciences gift shop.

Contact staff writer Kristin Pazulski at 215-248-8819 or Kristin@chestnuthilllocal.com.