frog pond

I guess my whining yesterday payed off -- it was a GORGEOUS day today! So we moved our morning walk to our favorite frog pond, which we drop by often to explore.


We don't call it the frog pond for no reason! Here a lovely bullfrog suns itself on the leaf of a pond lily, blooming nearby.

There are tadpoles aplenty to be found -- this is a first-year bullfrog tadpole -- he won't sprout legs and become a frog until next year (he'll spend the winter buried in the mud as a tadpole).

Here's a second-year bullfrog tadpole -- you can see his big webbed hind feet and his stumpy little front legs, plus his tail (quite a big shorter than the first-year tadpole's), and he's already breathing air.

I came across this painted turtle laying eggs when my Dad and I stopped by on Wednesday. Today, there was no sign the turtle was ever there, she had smoothed all that mud over her nest and left no trace of activity. We'll keep an eye on the nest -- I'm hoping if we time it right, we might be able to see some of the hatchlings!

There's a trail around the pond that we've never explored before, so today was the perfect day for that adventure!

We found these tracks in the mud. We think they are from a raccoon who was walking just on the balls of his hind feet (generally you can see the long, triangular heel as well). The front foot print certainly looks like a raccoon's.

A majestic Great Blue Heron tolerated us watching him fish.

We had to cross several streams. There's a lot more water in the area than usual for this time of year, thanks to all the recent rain. Made for a good challenge in places!

Indian pipes! Which I believe is a type of fungus? (Dad, correct me if I'm wrong!) Regardless, they are a pretty cool plant.

Ah! Wild blueberries, ripe and just waiting to be picked! (Well, they're not waiting any longer. They were delicious.)

The best part about the pond is that it's only a two minute drive from our house. So it's convenient to drop by to check on all the pond-happenings on a regular basis.