03.28.07 FREEDOM

The amphibian eggs I collected just over a week ago hatched and are growing faster than I could have predicted. All the tadpoles swim with fish-like tails and have started growing little stubs of legs! There are so many that I have decided rather than risk crowding them I will release them back to the stream in the pasture across the road. I imagine most will end up feeding the other creatures one step above them on the food chain.

03.24.07 TINY TADPOLES

The amphibian eggs have hatched! They love to hang upside down, especially from the surface of the water. This may be a sort of camoflage, since they look like plant litter in a pond so perfectly still. Haven't yet identified them, but I am hoping maybe they are baby leopard or pickerel frogs. Maybe even wood frogs which would be very cool. A wood frog is one of the most northern frogs and is capable of actually freezing solid during hibernation! Now that is a trick that is way ahead of us two-legged folk.

03.20.07 AMPHIBIAN FECUNDITY

I have been examining the water in the ditches along the road daily hoping to see some eggs of our neighbor frogs, toads, and salamanders. After several days of freezing weather, we have a day of warm sunshine. The first day of SPRING! And there they are, a huge mass of eggs. The entire group is the size of a large grapefruit. Could these have all come out of one individual? Perhaps they were much smaller when they were originally laid? I place a couple of spoonfuls in a jar hoping to watch the appearance of tadpoles.