Frogs Chirping At Dusk

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These are frogs that live in and around my pond... some are in the trees, some hiding under leaves! During the spring they chirp these amazing sounds, sometimes morning, noon and night... it will go on and on as the winter receeds and spring warmth really takes over. By the time spring is fully warm they will go silent again.
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You won't see a single frog in this video (cause they hide), but ya' can hear them all! Just close your eyes and listen....



xoxoxox

Building A Frog Habitat in the Pond

One of the reasons I was not sure if i wanted ducks is because I knew they would eat up my tadpoles, reducing the amount of native frogs I have in my pond. Before the ducks ever arrived I had started to build a frog safe place along the edges of the pond - by taking small dead hemlock trees and piling them up. Still though, i have way less frogs then normal because much of what i built was moved, decayed, or gawd knows what during the winter freezes..... and the ducks came in to massacre what was out in the open. I was excited to still see in some of the hemlock habitats i built, tadpoles and a group of frogs all in one space. So i took that spot, and made what was a froggie shack, into a frog multi-plex mansion!

I layered and extended the branches further out into the water, while also extended further out onto the land connected... putting more small branches on top of larger ones. Like building a debris shelter, a skeleton of a home.

The smaller tiny branches, block the ducks from getting under there.... and so they avoid that spot, and ravage the rest of the pond. Now to fix the pond leak.... omgawd!

Xoxoxox

Spring Sounds! Chicken Funnies & Frogs!

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It finally warmed up here, a little tricky break from the winter... and it's got everyone going. The chickens are bocking, the rooster is crowing, the frogs in my pond suddenly appeared and started chirping in the middle of the night.

I found a random egg in JuJu's hay that one of the chickens laid, so i picked it up and put it under my old hen Skinny Minny - and she got this look of suprise as though she had laid the egg herself and began to announce it to all...
that's when the noise party got started!

This makes me laugh... makes me happy...



xooxxo

Frogs IN the Luck Cabin

I don't think I told ya'll yet... but every time it rains, and sometimes when it's not raining frogs come hopping right under my door (or over the threshhold when it's open) straight into the Luck Cabin! I like it.

Xoxox

(Partial) Life Cycle Of The Tadpole

It's cool when nature let's us see the process of conception to birth right through the clear water... unlike a human embryo/fetus which will always have the air of mystery blanketed by a belly- even with our fancy ultra sound.

I have been watching the tadpoles in the pond closely - from being just dots in the bubbles, to when the bubbles began to look melted and the tadpoles kinda poke around in the goo...
And now they have big fat heads, long skinny tails which will soon turn into tiny feet made for hopping! They are able to swim around in their tadpole herd and move from spot to spot freely because all the bubble goop is gone. They wade in the most shallow part of the water still though - I haven't seen anyone stray from the group.
The frogs they will become are really freaking huge... One big guy in the pond is so large that when he jumps into the water the splash is so belly-floppin' hard that the water has hit me in the face from up to five feet away!

Xoxox

Frog Mating Season (tadpoles!)

I tried so hard to sneak up on the spring pond full of mating frogs... i walked quietly and slowly from far away, trying to stop in between each step so I would not be noticed. The frogs were loudly making all their spring time mating calls, which is enough to make me feel warm inside already. From a distance I could see their heads above the water, floating on the surface and singing their love songs - at first it looked like turtles, the way they float with just their nose poking out the water, and these frogs are quite large.
But as soon as I got within 3-4 feet of the tiny pond, they one by one started darting down to the bottom.
This brave one, was the last to go from their relaxed floating, to the unknowable abyss below.
I then noticed right next to the lone ranger, was tadpole eggs already starting their process of life!!! How cool is that?
Like abstract art, or really the mimic of how all life starts... beautiful dots just riding beneath the surface of the water.... I couldnt paint a cooler picture.
XoXo