Another Amphibian Adventure

For the last few years the pond has been the center of amphibian activity in my garden, toads and frogs visible or audible almost from March to September. Then the army of toadlings around the garden... This year although I've heard toads out there every time it rained, no tadpoles or toadlings that I could see. Maybe the low water level took away all of the good spawning zones? This year though, a new development...

...and it involves the water barrel in the front walkway garden.

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Last week I saw a pretty large leopard frog out there:

If you're wondering how these frogs find this small body of water, I may have an answer. These frogs are scattered all through my garden hiding under plants, which makes me think that they're pretty much everywhere around here, whether or not water is nearby. When they do find water, they take advantage, and just jump! Yes, last year I saw a frog jump from the ground up into this half barrel. That's really a leap of faith!

In any case, the other day I saw a smaller leopard frog up here, and then on Sunday...

...frog eggs!

I don't know if there have ever been frog eggs in the pond, because I think the fish find them to be delicious (unlike toad eggs). I don't know what the future holds for these, since...

...there are two goldfish in this barrel. 

For backup I removed half of the eggs and put them into one of my water plant buckets. I may need to create a new water feature just to house some frog tadpoles!

Stay tuned for updates...

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