Another thing I miss: discovery (and toads!)

Yesterday I posted butterfly photos from summer 2007 to give myself a reminder of what's coming in the next few months -- this cold can't last forever. Today I continue with that look back to highlight one of the things that I miss most about not being out in the garden: discovery!


In late May 2009 my morning garden walk revealed a toad in my stream. I watched and photographed him for quite a long time, ending up with what are some of my favorite photos ever. Here's a brief review of that morning.


***


Clearly he was attracted to the running water with a purpose, as he was calling quite regularly:


Remember that this was back before I had my pond, so seeing and hearing toads calling for mates was not common yet for me. This was the only permanent water source in my yard as well, and it is too small to accommodate more than a single pair of toads I think.


After a while he climbed out of the water...


...into an even more photogenic location:


Eventually he left, and that's when I realized that I had missed the main event, and that the water was full of toad egg strands:


Realizing that this was not an ideal place for tadpoles to mature, I scooped up some of the eggs...


...and raised them in a bucket indoors.


The thought of doing this now makes me laugh, as the pond is a toad tadpole machine that produces hundreds of the little things each year.

If you want to read the full story of the toads, with more photos of the tadpoles and resulting little toadlings, you'll find that here.



Just think, in three months or less I'll be hearing toad calls again...

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Mark and Gaz  – (February 20, 2015 at 8:09 AM)  

It's great that they thrive in your pond Alan!

outlawgardener  – (February 20, 2015 at 9:27 AM)  

So happy that you have the pond and lots of toad song now! The tree frogs that I imported last fall have been singing (at least one of them has) on warm days this winter. They mate in February here so I'm crossing my fingers that they'll lay eggs!

Charlie@Seattle Trekker  – (February 20, 2015 at 10:02 PM)  

I do so love the discoveries of spring...Your toad is very cute.

danger garden  – (February 21, 2015 at 12:41 AM)  

Since it seems my one and only frog was either eaten or took off for better digs I am living in a frog-free zone and not happy about it. Jealous, green with envy, and all that.

Anonymous –   – (February 23, 2015 at 2:27 PM)  

That's wonderful. I live in Southern California and there are no more amphibians here. Where there is open water (almost no where) the quality is too poor to support them. Haven't seen a toad since I was a kid, and I've looked.

TC –   – (March 28, 2015 at 5:57 PM)  

Great photos. Cool Toad.

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