Frog Heaven, Indiana

My thoughts and observations:

I guess that humans were never meant to have the peace and serenity that a forest might normally have...if it weren't for a swimming pool.

We've only been in our new house for a couple of weeks now and are enjoying the privacy a great deal. Nothing like living in the middle of a forest to cure your aversion to society. =P

We just opened the pool that came with the house and got it all clean and devoid of tadpoles and dragonfly larvae. It seemed more a manmade pond than a swimming pool initially, what with leaves and debris and a vast organism load in the water that you'd normally find in a pond.

Until..."crrreeoook"..."creeoooook"..."chirp, chirp, chirp". Shining a flashlight around the edge of the pool yielded what seemed like an invasion force of tree frogs. With one glance you could count 10, in another 15.

But when you glance in the pool, it seems like Spring Break for all of those "twitterpated" frogs. Everywhere you looked, frog pairs clasped in amplexus doing their best to get it done before I dipped them out and carted them across the yard to the forest. I truly feel for the female frogs, having to swim with no feet webbing with a parastic male clasped around your midsection.

Once you get the beach cleared of frogs in indecent positions, you hear it once more.."creeooook" from the oak tree adjacent to the pool. Upon closer inspection you can easily count 30 or more on the branches closest to the decking. Some are clasped and quietly biding their time until I have to go to bed, and others are singing to their heart's content for a would-be mate.

And whoever said frog numbers were declining hasn't visited my house apparently. Maybe they congregate because they know that out of the thousands of tadpoles that were in the pool, only about 10 died. The rest were placed in a bucket and carted to the nearby pond, a half mile away. Maybe they're like cats, only in a reverse way. Instead of being attracted to those who despise you..they're attracted to people who'd wade in 60 degree water and dip you out by hand if need be.

Sometimes that's all it takes in this world...a caring hand and a tolerance of cold, bug infested water.

hee, hee! thats very cute! i'm sure it was a pain to have to deal with those guys but it sounds like they chose the right pool to invade. i have this picture in my mind of a sea of frogs with you carefully picking through them all and carrying them to safety!

I love those pictures! I can see how it would be exciting and annoying for you to have all those frogs around.

Taceas, LOL, somehow critters seem to find you everywhere you go! They must have a feeling when you come round! Luckily you treat animals so well. You must have "mama" written all over you.

Wow, that's pretty funny.... 'spring break' for them, hahaha. Those pictures are cute, by the way. Massive load of frogs, there.

What are those? Gray tree frogs?

What are those? Gray tree frogs?

Click to expand...

Beats me. They look like pictures I've seen of Grey Tree Frogs. But my Audubon Society Handbooks are still packed up somewheres so I can't say for sure.

They do come in different colors: grey or greenish grey. But they interact with one another so I'm assuming they're the same species.

The only thing I can't figure out is which is which, male or female. From common experience I would have figured that the males would be smaller than the females, which with most other frogs is the case. But I've seen some that are nearly twice the size of another in amplexus, tightly gripped and not letting go for the world. So I don't know if there isn't any sexual dimorphism or not, or if it was perhaps a display of dominance or what.

But when I finally got around to cleaning the pool completely and adding the needed chemicals, I haven't seen nor heard a one since. I doubt the chemicals had anything to do with it, as I have a chlorine sensitivity myself and don't put in near as much as should be there. And even when I check the chemicals, I barely get a reading. So maybe they just moved on, hopefully.

But it was interesting none the less. =P