Brave Frog

For those of you unfamiliar with the neighborhood around my pond, I have two great big granddaddy frogs who are quite skittish and shy, and only ever seen from a distance, and then this one little brave frog who won't quite let me pick him up with my bare hands, but who will tolerate being scooped up in the skimmer net quite contentedly, and who doesn't even flinch when I come within a foot of him, as long as I don't do it too suddenly. In between these two photos, I stepped right over him, across the narrow part of the ponds, and he didn't even blink.

sent from my Android phone

Wire Grass + Granddaddy

I know, you're probably getting tired of frog pictures, but I find them fascinating.

sent from my Android phone

Brave, But Not THAT Brave

OK, I admit it, I knew he was gonna go, but I still almost fell over backward when he did it. This is the brave little frog from the top pond, who will apparently let me scoop him up with the net, but not with my bare hand.

Elusive Granddaddy Shows Himself

It's a little blurry, because it was getting dark and I'd been raking weeds and hauling 200' of hose around the yard, but there he is!

sent from my Android phone

Granddaddy Frogs

People always ask me where I bought my frogs, but the answer is, I didn't buy them. When we first put the pond in, we did look around for frogs. The pet stores were unhelpful - they had frogs, but they didn't know what they were or where they were from in the case of anything that looked like it might possibly be a native species. Obviously the tropicals were out, but we did want to get a native species, not something that might cause a problem in the ecosystem, since we were just plopping it into our backyard and hoping for the best. One of my favorite greenhouses has a large water garden display full of frogs, so we asked the proprietor there if the frogs were for sale. He glared at us like we were the amphibious equivalent of the DEA and said they weren't. For all I know, it's illegal to sell native frogs. 

So we figured we'd just be frog-less. We finished the pond, stocked it with some fish, and next thing you know, we heard frogs singing out there. If you build it, they will come!

sent from my Android phone

Gratuitous Frog Photo

sent from my Android phone

Brazen/Lazy Frog

This little guy is always hanging out in the top pond, just floating around like he's dead. He doesn't move, even when you get very close. In fact, he didn't move even when I scooped him up in the net, at least not until I tilted it side to side, which is when he at least shifted to stay balanced. And my husband reached in to pet him once, which annoyed him into a dive. I keep waiting for him to disappear when the great blue heron we occasionally spot out there teaches him a lesson about laziness.

sent from my Android phone

Frog

The not-so-shy frog who just lazes around, even if I'm nearby.

sent from my Android phone