Frogs & Toads

Spring is going full-blast here, and the flowers are everywhere! I remember going out almost every day last spring for an hour or more, trying to get pictures of every new flower that appeared...what a job that was! This year I am resigned to the fact that I just don't have time to do that with this photography project, but it's almost a relief! :D I also can't risk burning out from overdoing it, a real issue that ends this project for many who find themselves sick to death of photography. I force myself to stop before I want to in order to keep my desire going strong! It's working very well so far! :) I was checking out a spot where a pretty little flower grew last year, when I noticed some movement and then a SPROING!!! as a surprised Pacific Tree Frog hopped away from a nearby spot. So bright and green, so cute and adorable! I wanted to coo at this darling little guy but I didn't want to scare him even more, so I quietly took pictures and moved along as he hopped here and there, sure I was going to eat him! After a few minutes I left him alone, extremely pleased that he stopped long enough for me to get some great pictures to share! I loved the quote I found, it's just how I feel! :D Cameron Michelle Diaz (born August 30, 1972) is an American actress and former model. She rose to prominence during the 1990s with roles in the movies The Mask, My Best Friend's Wedding and There's Something About Mary. Other high-profile credits include the two Charlie's Angels films, voicing the character Princess Fiona in the Shrek series, The Holiday, The Green Hornet and Bad Teacher. Diaz received Golden Globe award nominations for her performances in the movies There's Something About Mary, Being John Malkovich, Vanilla Sky, and Gangs of New York. Wikipedia: Cameron Diaz

Wandering back from the turn-around point at the end of the ridge trail, I meandered past a pile of old brush and noticed a spider rushing along. When I bent down to take some pictures, I surprised this beautiful Pacific Tree Frog, which hopped away from where I was crouching. Though it was initially alarmed, I didn't move and it stayed where it was and allowed me to take some pictures!

My little froggy friend let me take lots of pictures, and I got a couple of others to share in this diptych! :) Pacific Tree Frogs are the most common frog on the west coast of North America and are found from Canada down to Baja, California, and east to Nevada, Idaho and Montana. They don't seem to be affected by the world's frog decline, and their population is very strong. If you would like to know more about the decline in amphibean populations around the world, Wiki has a great page here: Wiki: Decline in Amphibian Populations

Months ago, Steve and I spent a few hours taking pictures down by the Rogue River and while I was at the river's edge, I happened to look down and find this fellow looking back at me! Pacific Tree Frogs are the most common frog on the west coast of North America and are found from Canada down to Baja, California, and east to Nevada, Idaho and Montana. They don't seem to be affected by the world's frog decline, and their population is very strong. If you would like to know more about the decline in amphibean populations around the world, Wiki has a great page here: Wiki: Decline in Amphibian Populations

(To follow the story, follow this link! Lucky's Porta-Pond! ) Lucky's Pond has now moved indoors to a 10-gallon glass tank with 50/50 water and land! There are 5-10 developing tadpoles in the water, which has an airstone in it to keep the water moving and oxigenated. At last count, we have 4 quickly growing froglets ranging in size from 1/4" to 1/3"! The tadpoles eat fish food and we've been feeding the froglets flightless fruit flies! What fun it's been to watch the froglets hopping around, wolfing down fruit flies! They're growing quickly and everyone seems to be healthy and happy! (By the way, the seasonal pond is now completely full with all the rain we've had, but we'll be keeping this crew until the springtime because we feel they would die from the cold. They're probably not developed enough to hibernate like the adults do, so we'll keep them here at Lucky's Spa and Luxury Retreat until it's springtime! :D)

Well, look who greeted me on this rainy morning?! Say hello to Lucky, one of the guests at my temporary home for wayward tadpoles and froglets! All of the tadpoles have turned into frogs, and though we have suffered some losses, there are still a few happy frogs here, who feast on flightless fruitflies and enjoy their mossy home and relaxing mini pond! (If you'd like to know more about these guys, here's the story: Lucky's Porta-Pond (STORY TIME!!!) ) Mao Zedong, commonly referred to as Chairman Mao (December 26, 1893 – September 9, 1976), was a Chinese communist revolutionary, political theorist and politician. The founding father of the People's Republic of China from its establishment in 1949, he governed the country as Chairman of the Communist Party of China until his death. In this position he converted China into a single-party socialist state, with industry and business being nationalized under state ownership and socialist reforms implemented in all areas of society. Politically a Marxist-Leninist, his theoretical contribution to the ideology along with his military strategies and brand of policies are collectively known as Maoism. Mao Zedong

[best appreciated at full size against black] Today is February 29 (well, it was when I posted this picture!!) and I thought I'd celebrate by putting up this picture of a tiny friend I met down at the edge of the Rogue River a week or so ago! Measuring in at just 1/2", I didn't see notice this adorable Pacific Tree Frog while I was looking around for pictures to take. Instead, he got my attention by flinging himself into the air in front of me and landing in a cartwheel, coming to rest on a large rock by the river's edge. This sweetheart was very brave and allowed me to creep closer and closer with my camera until I filled the frame with him! I'm pretty happy because this is my first amphibian shot with my new camera, yay!! I've uploaded two other pictures today and I hope you'll visit them too! Thanks to all of you who have visited and have left comments and favorites! I try to go to all of your pages within a day or two and is a highlight for me to see your beautiful photography! :) NOTE! I have finally updated my profile and I hope you'll take a look to find out a little more about me and how important all of you are to my experience here on Flickr! www.flickr.com/people/sfhipchick/ This image was taken in February, 2012.

(If you want to know about Lucky, please visit this picture and read the story! :) My Friend Lucky When I took this picture, I thought I was looking at a froglet sitting on a rock, counting the evening stars in contented bliss. But when I looked at the picture on my computer, I laughed in glee when I discovered the truth! That little froglet isn't sitting on a rock, he's sitting on top of another froglet!! Best of all, they both look very comfortable and happy being in a froglet pile! Awwwwwwwwwwww!!!!! :D Did you know that Pacific Tree Frogs are the only frogs that make the exact sound, "ribbit"? All other frogs make different sounds, not quite like the Pacific Tree Frog. Only male frogs can sing, and most frog species make their calls by forcing air into their vocal sac, which blows up into like a balloon! The air vibrates over the larynx and resonates inside the large, air-filled sac! (There are a few kinds of frogs who sing without vocal sacs) The song of the Pacific Tree Frog can be heard up to half a mile away on a quiet night! Last year Steve and I got a sound-capture of the frogs singing at the pond and you will love hearing them singing for love! If you would like to know more about frog vocal sacs, Wiki has a very nice page about it here: Wiki: Frog Vocal Sac More fun froggy facts tomorrow, along with another picture from Lucky's Pond! :) By the way, I've uploaded two other pictures today and I hope you'll visit them too! Thanks to all of you who have visited and have left comments and favorites! I try to go to all of your pages within a day or two and is a highlight for me to see your beautiful photography! :)

(If you want to know about Lucky, please visit this picture and read the story! :) My Friend Lucky Oh, liittle froglet...I seeeee youuuuu!!! Isn't it amazing how well this little guy blends in with the rock he's on? It doesn't hurt that his skin is very translucent--his toes are almost completely transparent! Pacific Tree Frogs come in many shades of green and brown and have the ability to change their color over the course of hours, days or weeks. In fact, I have a fun story to share about this! We have an upstairs deck outside our bedroom where we grow our tomato plants. Every year frogs find their way up to the deck where they have access to water, cool shade, and a steady stream of insects to eat which come to visit the plants. A couple of nights ago it was really hot so we opened the door to cool off the bedroom. Later we went into our game room before bed and I was busy replying to comments when I noticed something out of the corner of my eye. I looked down to the floor and to my surprise, I saw a Pacific Tree Frog! It was the pale beige color of our carpet and looked very confused. I was amazed! This frog hopped through the back door, through the bedroom, down the hall, turned right and went down the hall, turned left and hopped into the game room, turned right and finally ended up in my field of view! I can hardly believe it!! This frog would have certainly died except that it travelled all that way, where I found it--or rather, it found Mama Frog! I scooped it up, brought it into the bathroom and washed off all the dog hair it managed to collect along the way and after it squirted out of my grasp a couple of times, I managed to get it downstairs and out into the cool foliage in our front yard. Wow, I wonder if that was Lucky's mom or dad?! That was one extremely lucky froggy!! :D More fun froggy facts tomorrow, along with another picture from Lucky's Pond! :) By the way, I've uploaded two other pictures today and I hope you'll visit them too! Thanks to all of you who have visited and have left comments and favorites! I try to go to all of your pages within a day or two and is a highlight for me to see your beautiful photography! :)

Yesterday morning, I went down to the dried up pond to see what was there. I was very happy to see lots of extremely tiny (1/4") frogs hopping around! They should be just fine. They will be able to eat gnats and other insects flying around the dried mud, and they can burrow into the mud and dirt when it's hot. Every morning they'll get moisture from the dew. They'll soon hop away from the pond and grow into full-sized Pacific Tree Frogs! I took a bunch of pictures to share, and even got a picture of one that still had part of its tail left! Aren't they adorable?!!

(If you want to know about Lucky, please visit this picture and read the story! :) My Friend Lucky Would you just LOOK at these cutie pies?!!! I couldn't believe my eyes when I took a peek in the pond a couple of weeks ago and found all of these tiny froglets lined up and ready for a graduation picture! Yes, it's that time!! The day finally came when most of the froglets hopped off to find their fortunes on the property surrounding Lucky's Pond. A couple of days after I took this picture, there were almost no more froglets left. I see a froglet now once every couple of days, though there are still many tadpoles swimming around enjoying themselves and happy to continue being babies! (Some tadpoles delay their metamorphosis for up to six months.) It's been such fun taking pictures of these guys and sharing what I've learned about frogs and tadpoles. I have many more adorable images, but for now, I'm going to stop posting pictures as a daily event. Instead, I'll put up a froglet or tadpole picture every week or so, since we all love them so! Thanks so much for all of your fantastic comments and encouragement, it's made me feel so great knowing that everyone has enjoyed this project as much as I have! For those of you who didn't read my update a few days ago, we'll be keeping Lucky's Pond in place forever, and I'll be building the land up around this kiddy pool with rocks and dirt so that it will be level with the lip of the pool when I'm done. We'll always keep it as a froggy sanctuary, with its screen on top so that the wildlife doesn't empty the pond by drinking all the water. What a wonderful experience this has been! Long live Lucky and all of his friends at Lucky's Pond!!! Hooray!!! By the way, I've uploaded two other pictures today and I hope you'll visit them too! Thanks to all of you who have visited and have left comments and favorites! I try to go to all of your pages within a day or two and is a highlight for me to see your beautiful photography! :) Explored on August 14, 2012, placement at #208.

Although most of the tadpoles have now grown up and hopped away, Lucky's Pond still has plenty of polliwogs changing into froglets for me to adore. It's hard to find froglets on my daily visits now and there are usually only one or two hiding under a rock's edge or at the side of the pool, but I still see many tadpoles in the water. (HAPPY NOTE!! I just went out for a late night visit and found a half-grown froglet visiting, sitting in the place that many of them lined up for pictures...he looks like he's saying, "HEY! THIS ROCK SHRUNK! :D :D Totally adorable, what a fun discovery!!) Even though I saved them from drying up, these little guys still have plenty to worry about. There are water boatsmen and backswimmer insects and a large water beetle that live in the pond too, and they eat tadpoles and froglets that aren't quick enough! Wasps that come to drink the water will also eat our little friends if they get the chance. If you can believe it, the tadpoles will eat one another too. Adult frogs are known to eat froglets and tadpoles, and they come every night to get wet, and probably to hunt as well. Once the froglets hop out of the pond, they will need to rely on their instincts to survive. There is a garter snake whose home is right next to the pool and it surely eats some of the new hoppers who leave the pool. The environment is harsh and dry, and if their instincts don't tell every new froglet to seek the cool shade under bushes or in a safe hole during the day, they will succumb to the heat and dry conditions. There are ramps leading into the pond, and cool areas for them to easily hop to, but it's up to them to make it to safety. I know that most of them will die because that's just how it is, but if they're Lucky, they'll survive and will hopefully live to start a new family next spring! :) More fun froggy facts tomorrow, along with another picture from Lucky's Pond! :)

I was very surprised when I began taking pictures of the tadpoles and froglets at Lucky's Pond. I originally thought that the blue color and printed pictures would ruin all the images, but I discovered that the blue color influenced the way the water appeared in a nice way and the pictures add interest! I also never expected the muddy water to be anything but ugly, and instead, the water creates a wonderful surface for reflections, and the blue flow lines you see here are not from the blue plastic, they are actually a reflection of the sky! This darling 1/4" Pacific Tree Frog youngster is showing one of the defining characteristics of this species: the band of black from its nose, enclosing its eye and going back to its foreleg and along its body at the midway mark. These frogs can be countless shades of green and brown with mottling, but all of them have this band of black. Did you know that frogs come in many colors other than green and brown? The gorgeous Poisin Dart frog. include some of the most colorful species in the world, including cobalt blue, neon green, flaming orange, fire-engine red, day-glow yellow, and even purple!! The bright colors serve as a warning that they are poisonous, and in fact are the most deadly frogs in the world! (By the way, Poison Dart frogs bred in captivity are not poisonous--the toxins secreted on their skin comes from the insects eaten in the wild!) More fun froggy facts tomorrow, along with another picture from Lucky's Pond! :)

(10 points if you know where I got this quote, and no fair looking it up! :D) One morning I went out to say hello to the gang and found this adorable baby sitting on the plywood ramp that leads to the lip of the pool. I was a bit horrified because this 1/4" munchkin still had his tail and was entirely too small in my opinion, to be hopping off into the wild blue yonder!! So after I took this picture, I gently urged him back into the pond to wait another day (or three please!) before he ventured out again! I was delighted when I saw this image though, it's one of the nicest pictures I've taken at Lucky's Pond! :D The translucence of his skin is wonderful to see and his brand new circular ear drum are clearly visible behind his eye! (As a tadpole develops into a frog, one of the amazing changes is the formation of these ear drums!) Did you know that frogs hear through their ear drums AND their lungs?! WOW! Sounds cause their ear drums to vibrate, sending electrical pulses to their brain for interpretation. Sound waves that encounter their lungs are directed up through their ears and then to their brain. In this way, frogs are able to locate where a sound is coming from! Isn't that cool?! In a male frog, it is thought that the air link between their lungs and eardrums help to equalize the pressure caused when they make their calls, which can be almost as loud as jackhammers in some species! (90-95 decibals). Equalizing the pressure is essential to keep their ears from actually exploding from the build-up! If you would like to know more about how frogs hear, there is a very nice page here: Animal Discovery: Frog Ears More fun froggy facts tomorrow, along with another picture from Lucky's Pond! :) By the way, I've uploaded two other pictures today and I hope you'll visit them too! Thanks to all of you who have visited and have left comments and favorites! I try to go to all of your pages within a day or two and is a highlight for me to see your beautiful photography! :)

Can you think of anything nicer than relaxing at a cool pond on a hot summer day? This darling froglet shows us how it's done in fine style! The temperature here is between 85° and 100° F (30°-38° C) from July through August, but in Lucky's Pond, the water is probably about 70°-76°. I specifically placed the pool under the Oak tree near our front door so it is shaded for most of the day. This keeps the evaporation and heat down but they still get some sun shining on the pool for those who want to work on their tanning! :D Can you believe that this little guy is only about 1/4" in size?! So cute!! When he grows up, he will be up to 2" from nose to urostyle (hind end). Pacific Tree Frogs are a bit smaller than the average size of frog, which is about 3"-5" from nose to urostyle. The largest frog in the world is the Goliath Frog from Cameroon, Africa, which can grow to be 13" from nose to urostyle! The world's smallest frog is the adorably tiny Paedophryne Amauensis from Papua New Guinea, and at full size is just a little larger than this Pacific Tree froglet at .30" or 7.7cm!! More fun froggy facts tomorrow, along with another picture from Lucky's Pond! :) By the way, I've uploaded two other pictures today and I hope you'll visit them too! Thanks to all of you who have visited and have left comments and favorites! I try to go to all of your pages within a day or two and is a highlight for me to see your beautiful photography! :) Explored on August 9, 2011. Placement at #211.

When it comes to froglets, they clearly have no manners! I was taking a picture of these four, when one of them decided he didn't want anything to do with the paparazzi, and began climbing up the rock. Apparently, the best way to get to the rock is by stepping on your fellow froglet's HEAD, and judging by this fellow's expression, I don't think he was very impressed with the situation! :D Lucky's Pond Update: it's August now, more than a month since I rescued the masses of tadpoles from our dried-up seasonal pond and created Lucky's Pond up at the house. Since then, countless tadpoles have grown up and left the pool as tiny frogs. I saw the largest number of froglets about two weeks ago, when they were sitting all over the rocks and the sides of the pool, but these days, I only see one or two froglets and I really have to search to find them. And yet, there are still a bunch of tadpoles that have no legs! I guess they really enjoy the wonderful amenities here and don't want to grow up! :D I'll be sharing more pictures of the froglets though because they're just too cute! In a few days I'll be posting the last one for a while, but will add a new one from time to time--I just don't want you all to become tired of looking at these cutie pies!!! :D I've uploaded two other pictures today and I hope you'll visit them too! Thanks to all of you who have visited and have left comments and favorites! I try to go to all of your pages within a day or two and is a highlight for me to see your beautiful photography! :) Explored on August 8, 2012. Highest placement at #293.

There's just no end to the adorable photo ops here at Lucky's Pond! I came to visit the other day and discovered the froglets were putting on a modeling show, complete with a runway! Let's all give a big hand to Cindy Crawfrog and Claudia Shiffrog, who are modeling the season's finest in glamorous pond decor and foamy suds! WOOOOOOOT!!!! *cat call* :D :D Did you know that frogs have homing instincts?! Pacific Tree Frogs will find their way back to their original pond even if they are placed into a larger pond nearby. After the breeding season, frogs move away from their pond but come back to it next season by using their homing instinct! More fun froggy facts tomorrow, along with another picture from Lucky's Pond! :)

I was really happy when I found these two cutie-pies side by side at the edge of the pool, because you can really see the differences in their appearance between tadpole and froglet! It's kind of hard to believe that the tadpole will look like that froglet, and equally hard to imagine that the froglet once looked like the tadpole!! They change so quickly, it's really an amazing transformation!! Here are some fun froggy facts! A group of frogs is called an 'army,' and a group of toads is called a ‘knot’! Frogs don’t drink water! They absorb it through their skin! Frog bones form a ring when the frog is hibernating, just like trees do! Although it's morbid to think about, these rings can be counted to find out how old it was when it died. More fun froggy facts tomorrow, along with another picture from Lucky's Pond! :)