Recently in frogs and toads Category

Frogzilla Lurks

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Any insects visiting our pond for a drink better best beware -- if they choose their landing spot poorly, they'll probably become lunch. Our pond, lovely though it is, is home to several amphibious lurkers, and these frogs are quite patient as they wait for their next meal.

bullfroga05-17-11.jpgFrogzilla is our largest bullfrog, and she's clever, oh so clever. She decided that rather than attempt to catch insects by floating in the pond with the other frogs, she'd instead lay claim to the waterfall.

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I wouldn't mind this so much, except suddenly our songbirds are at risk for being on the menu. The waterfall is a favorite drinking and bathing spot for our birds.

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Depending on where she chooses to rest, she is well camouflaged. Sometimes I don't notice her myself, unless I venture too close and she suddenly jumps into the pond.

bullfrogc05-17-11.jpgWhen she's back in the hot-tub pond, she takes advantage of special observation spots.

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Frogzilla might be a little scary in the aquatic world, but you can tell she's been a favorite photographic subject of mine. Do you see the leopard frog with her in the photo above?

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I'm so glad I'm not bite-sized.

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Companions

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While working in the veggie garden, trying to figure out how best to pair up my veggies with good companion plants, I noticed two other little companions not too far away. And of course, I just had to snap a picture to share with my blogging companions.

frogs10-10-10.jpgI also noticed that it's apparently time to add a little more water to the pond! Ok, weather, clearly it's time you sent us some rain.  

Dude, You're a Big Amphibian

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My son was cleaning leaves out of the front pond and soon came rushing in to tell me that we had both a huge toad and a huge frog at the pond. Naturally, I rushed back out with him with my camera in hand.

Sure enough, the female toad was huge -- round even. I just had to get a close-up of her beautiful warty skin.

toad09-11-10.jpgBut when I saw the frog, I was really amazed at its size. To date, when we've had frogs, they've all been cute little things. This was a by gosh big'n. I supposed it's not big by frog standards, but it's big by my home wildscape standards. Is a good ol' fashioned American Bull Frog?

  frogb09-11-10.jpgAfraid of scaring it off while I took pictures, I whispered gentle, soothing sounds toward its tympanic membrane, or tympanum. Ah, biology classes. You served me well. I've remembered those terms since high school. The tympanum -- the circular spot near each froggy eye -- is how the frog hears. Sound waves hit the membrane and cause it to vibrate, and the information is conducted to the frog's internal hearing structures. Humans have them, too -- we call them eardrums. Ms. Toad above has them, too. Scroll up and see.

froga09-11-10.jpgAnyhoo, I'd like to dedicate this post to my late Granddaddy, who moved all the way from England to the U.S. and met my grandmother, both of whom later had my dad, who ultimately with my mom had my sisters and me. Granddaddy often told us this poem--one of many, actually -- but this was a personal favorite.

What a funny thing a frog are
'E ain't got no tail almost hardly
And when he sit he jump
And when he jump, he sit
On 'is lit'l tail that he ain't got almost hardly. 

I think our froggy would have liked it. I should have whispered that to its tympanum, too, before it hopped away.


Meredith
Meredith O'Reilly happily
gardens for wildlife in
Austin, TX. She enjoys
educating people of all ages
about native flora, fauna,
and healthy environments.



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