It rained all day today, leaving a warm still evening at the end of a dark day. As I took Francesca on her evening walk, we saw at least 20 toads. They are easy to spot in the distance, little triangular sentinels at the edge of the sidewalk. If they are smart, they jump into the tall grass before Francesca approaches - she likes to give chase.
Many of them are large full-grown adults. I'm impressed when I look at them, and think, "You really are survival of the fittest!" Thinking back on the thousands of tadpoles in ponds and creeks over the summer, these big guys are the top 1%. Some of them are tiny half-grown things, perched on delicate little forelegs, all eyes and mouth.
It has been so long since we've had much rain, surely these guys have been in arrested development since high summer, revived from their hibernation hidey-holes by today's long steady soak. Wonder if any of them are ones we raised?
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2 comments:
Oh my boys would have loved that, frogs are very popular around here. Last spring we collected some tadpoles and kept them alive in a five-gallon bucket until they had legs and could almost hop out. Then they mysteriously died. The kids were crushed. Woops, I didn't mean for this comment to be a downer. :)
Yeah, I found out that once they get legs, they also get lungs and lose their gills. Your pollywogs probably drowned. As soon as you see legs, put a sunning rock in there for them, and give them their freedom as soon as they are sitting on it with little to no tail. Better luck next year.
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