I have been waiting for spring to get a grip and awaken this vernal pool.
A flash in the blackness caught my shy, silent, almost invisible audience watching me watching them.
Here I lightened up the picture so you can see the raindrop's ripples and the brush where the frogs were hanging out.
There were a few spring peepers, but they weren't peeping.
Most of the present residents were wood frogs, and like I said, they only made a few quacks.
Up on the mountain, my vernal pool is barely awake.
But at lower elevations, what I saw while driving there, is another story!
A mountaintop vernal pool |
Sunday was a spring like day. Monday was even warmer, with the rain that brings out the salamanders and frogs. So, when I went out last evening in the rain, I was fully expecting a cacophonous din and plenty of action from the creatures of the vernal pools. My vernal pool was only slightly awake though. Probably because it is up on top the mountain, and with the higher elevation spring takes a little longer to arrive than here along the river.
When I arrived at the pool, all was still. After quite a few minutes wait in the darkness only a few wood frog quacks broke the stillness (if you can call the sound of rain drops falling in the woods stillness).
Oh, there were creatures there alright.A flash in the blackness caught my shy, silent, almost invisible audience watching me watching them.
Here I lightened up the picture so you can see the raindrop's ripples and the brush where the frogs were hanging out.
Spring Peeper |
Most of the present residents were wood frogs, and like I said, they only made a few quacks.
Mating pair of Wood Frogs |
This pair of wood frogs nicely illustrates what the quacking is all about. The wood frog mating calls sound like quacks. Once a pair find each other, the smaller male hangs onto the female until the egg laying business is accomplished. You can see she is very full with eggs. I haven't seen any eggs in the pool yet.
But at lower elevations, what I saw while driving there, is another story!
Are those glowing eyes frogs ? I love the last picture.
ReplyDeleteI am now determined to find my very own vernal pool.
Sybil
Eastern Passage, NS
Wonderful that you can watch and photograph the whole process!
ReplyDeleteI love the last shot :)
Love the eye-shine image! There's still snow at my vernal pool - about 6500 feet.
ReplyDeleteSybil, yep, I think they were wood frogs. I could see the frogs were there on the branches, so I tried to catch them with the camera. The eyes showed up better than I expected.
ReplyDelete