Eye On Nature

I found a five-legged frog in my granny's garden beside Lough Mask. Is this very rare? I would love to know why the frog had three back legs. - Tom Keane (aged 6), Rathvilly, Co Carlow

It is fairly rare, but such aberrations happen occasionally in frogs in nature. Frogs also have the ability to grow a toe or a leg if they lose one or the other.

We have had a bald jackdaw, apparently a juvenile, visiting our garden and being fed by two other jackdaws. It looked like a vulture as the feathers were absent from its body and legs, but the wing and tail feathers were intact. The bird appeared to fly in the normal way and to be perfectly healthy and strong. - N. St John Hennessy, Rathfarnham, Dublin 14.

This is a very strange occurrence. There are references in the literature to birds, among them a jackdaw, suffering from alopecia, but I have not heard or read of a bird with all body feathers missing. The growth of feathers in a bird is influenced by the thyroid glands at the base of the neck. A thyroid deficiency might have caused the problem in your bird.

It must be nigh on 30 years since I saw a red squirrel. However on a recent visit to Portumna Golf course I saw one. Problem is that it did not seem to be as "red" as I remembered. It was quite dark in colour with a lot of long blackish hairs especially on the ear tips. Have I a faulty memory or is this a new species? At Athlone golf club two weeks ago I saw a treecreeper. Again I had not seen one for many years. - Tom Collins, Athlone, Co Westmeath

The summer coat of the red squirrel is more chestnut than red, and it often has grey hairs around the head and flanks. In autumn it will moult and get its winter coat. In all seasons there is a great deal of colour variation among red squirrels.

Edited by Michael Viney, who welcomes observations sent to him at Thallabawn, Carrowniskey PO, Westport, Co Mayo. Email viney@anu.ie Observations sent by email should be accompanied by postal address as location is sometimes important to identification or behaviour.