I've enjoyed watching frogs and toads near one of our fountains and the pool over the course of this summer. I went out every day to see if someone was cooling off in the fountain. Last week, I let the dogs out at night and counted 16 Rio Grande leopard frogs in the pool at once! They jump in at night and are usually gone by morning. And I found a cluster of frog spawn in the pool. I scooped it out and carefully and slowly replaced the pool water with rain water from the tank over a period of about a day. Now I am refreshing the rain water daily.
They seem to be changing, the eggs becoming elongated as they begin the process of morphing into tadpoles. Several of my garden blogging friends with ponds want to adopt some of them, too! Fingers crossed that at least some of them make it.
Then last night I saw my first Green tree frog on the back wall of the house. This Hyla cinerea was just hanging out and didn't move a muscle as Jeff took several pictures of him.
Isn't he cute? This is definitely the year of the frogs and toads in our garden.
I've blogged about these guys several times over the last few months.
And an interloper toad came to the party for a while, as well.
A few years ago, I even had a whole family of toads squatting in a bag of potting soil. Scared me to death when I reached in for some soil!
What critters do you enjoy in your garden?
Wonderful photos, Diana. I so love frogs and toads! Tadpoles and frogs were a regular part of my childhood but I don't think I've seen a single frog during my adulthood, which is a terrible commentary on the local environment. My current garden does have lizards, though - loads and loads of them. In fact, I usually can't take five steps without seeing at least one.
ReplyDeleteKris - I hope these eggs really are developing. I guess only time will tell. Your garden is a great place for lizards to hand out -- it must be like paradise to them!
ReplyDeleteCute! I love frogs and toads, too. I had quite a few in my potager garden this summer. They're great friends to have in the garden since they eat the bad bugs that damage the plants. I love finding the little baby toads, too. Great photos!
ReplyDeleteI've never seen a tree frog here. That is awesome. I hope the eggs hatch into tadpoles. I may have to invite myself over to see them :)
ReplyDeleteThat's a sign of a healthy ecosystem! Cute froggies.
ReplyDeletePlant postings - Thanks! They are great in the garden. I love to imagine them eating pesky insects!
ReplyDeleteLaura - I'm afraid Vicki and I think they are not viable now. They stopped developing early on. Next time I will do it differently. But it's been a few years since I found the last batch of them in the pool. Hope they decide to party again before winter arrives.
Pam - True - and they're survivors - you should see how quickly they hop into the pool at night when the dogs and I come outside.