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frogs frogs frogs!! It just looked kind of appealing, you know?
After dropping off the raccoon, I couldn't resist a quick stop at the ponds next to the river. With the hopes of maybe spotting a frog or two. It has been a looong time since I've seen a frog. Heard some, yes, but actually seen them? They've been scarce since this long dry spell started, probably over twenty years now. Most of the places I used to see frogs regularly have been dry for so long they're not even mud flats anymore. Just grassy swales. You'd never think I used to chase frogs off the road to get through those places. Since then, I've literally gone years without seeing a single frog. But with the late spring, exceptionally wet in some places, I thought maybe I'd finally find a few survivors. I did. I hadn't even made it to the water's edge before the plopping started.
Can this be? Can there really be bunches of frogs? There were.
There were frogs everywhere!
Northern leopard frogs, to be exact. Both the green
and brown varieties.
Looking close, I noticed they weren't all true frogs. Many of them were still metamorphizing out of the tadpole stage into the frog stage of their amphibian life. What we as kids used to call froglets. No longer able to swim and eat as tadpoles, not yet able to eat as frogs, they survive by absorbing the tissues in their tails. Some had a fair amount of tail left,
while others had almost none.
And, as I searched the shallows, I finally spotted a few that were just starting to come out of the tadpole stage,
their front legs not yet having popped out. I remember as a kid watching those tiny forelegs moving around under the skin, and using our fingers to gently try to guide them out the new holes in their sides. As if Mother Nature wouldn't have them be able to do that on their own. As I walked the perimeter of the pond, frogs and froglets jumping in all the way, I tried to make an estimate for the pond. Best guess? Over 800 leopard frogs. Eight hundred!! Sure, most of them were juveniles, but still... Hundreds of frogs! And I found I wasn't the only one hunting for frogs on this pond.
I spotted not one, not two, but four gartersnakes in my stroll around the shore. Presumably all looking for frogs. But hey, with a 200 to 1 advantage, the odds are probably in the frogs' favor.
As I mentioned, almost all were juvenile frogs, all the same size. But there were a few larger adults.
And yes, Sis, I tried to catch some. Of course. But it took a few failures to remember the tricks. And realize there are distinct disadvantages to growing up. Because your hands are now so far from the ground. And you no longer disregard the possibility of falling face first into the mucky water. Or not care about stepping into water over your shoes. But this gal?
I caught her.
Let her go, too, of course.
We won't mention having to wash the mud and muck off my leather boots when I got home... |
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