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| This tadpole will have four legs and a croaker soon. How does that happen? |
If this morning's discovery is any indication, we've got a massive batch of frogs developing in the pond. Hai, seated on a rock across the way, observed the busy tadpole hatch darting about this morning as he finished his breakfast drink.
The tadpoles aren't particularly photogenic, but we teased a couple of images for you to see. There's still no snapper in our live trap, so we consider these young to be relatively safe, and should be croaking us awake by midnight in July.
We're pleased with a healthy hatch of frogs, it means we've got the pond reasonably balanced.
It's a beautiful, warm June day, temps in the 90s. The lazy painted turtles don't bother to get on the island where they would fry, they just float about in the warm water, poking a nose out once in a while for a breath of air. We don't think they'll bother the newcomers.
We've been asked many times "How deep is that pond?" and we've never had an answer. Now we do. Yesterday Gary and Carolyn took out their sit-on-top kayak and loaned it to Stan for a spin around the pond. Soundings were taken from one end of the pond to the other and the answer is: Six feet. Which apparently is deep enough to overwinter creatures… and to hide them as well. Kathleen took plenty of photos for the record and would have been right on the story if Gary and Carolyn's kayak had tipped.
It did not, so we offer this tranquil photo instead.
