Yesterday morning I asked my friend to go out on a photo shoot with me. After seeing wood frogs last Thursday, I hoped to see even more. It got cold again over the weekend, so they wouldn't have been out. Yesterday, however, was 70 degrees. Perfect weather for wood frogs.
When we met at the pond at 11:05, there wasn't much happening. We decided to work our way around to the back side where there tends to be more action. After a bit of scouting, we ended up on a bank where the earth slopes gently into the pond.
We both settled in on our stomachs facing the water hoping some frogs would reveal themselves. Finally, perhaps 25 minutes after we first arrived, frogs started to surface.
After a few minutes, I heard a small animal in the brush over my left shoulder. We joked that it was getting closer. Then I heard it behind me. I assumed it was a bird that was flitting around. But then, the sound was coming from several places at the same time. My friend kept shooting, but my curiosity got the best of me. What was making that noise?
As I sat up and turned to look, I saw bunches of frogs hopping to the water, looking slightly out of control, like they might crash at any time. I laughed out loud and told my friend what it was.
They continued to hop down the hillside for several more hours. Two hours after they really started migrating, literally hundreds were in the water.
The hopping frenzy continued. One landed on my friend's leg.
Then on a camera bag. One hopped into my back then let me gently pick it up before it hopped into the water. The two of us just kept laughing at the sight. I've witnessed this before, so you'd think I'd be a bit jaded, but it's still exciting.
We spent nearly 3 hours out there. Then, I went back to get my kids from school and brought them out. By 4 pm, very few frogs were still hopping out of the woods but we did see a few. We saw more frogs in the water mating by this time, though.
And what did my kids do? Climb out on the same trees I was on earlier in the day. At least they come by it honestly!
Have you ever seen wood frogs migrate? How about spotted salamanders? Or is there an animal native to your area that migrates that you'd like to tell us about?
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you have a gorgeous, lush blog- and in such a few posts. keep up the good work!
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