It is often said that
‘timing is everything’. Well, this year,
my timing was impeccable in witnessing the frog frenzy down at our pond.
Let me premise…I
know next to nothing about frogs. I
dissected a frog once in high school biology, but even the knowledge I gained
about their internal organs has left my active memory bank. I know a frog when
I see one up close and personal; otherwise, I might think was looking at a
toad. Frogs have webbed feet…right?
Normally, when the
frogs are in full croaking mode, I can walk down to the pond and not see a
one. As I wander along the edge of the
water, I can hear little splashes as these frogs jump, undetected by my eyes,
into the pond as I pass near them. All I
seem to catch is a glimpse of the small round rings of waves resulting from the
disturbed surface of the pond as the frogs jump in.
One day this past
week, I took my usual walk down to the pond.
I could hear the frogs up at the house and their racket only amplified
the closer to the pond I got.
I went out onto the
deck of the pond house to survey the bank from as near the water-side as
possible in hopes of not scaring the frogs into taking their diving escapes. I
saw a clump of mud surrounded by grass that, imagining, could be a frog. Even though I was only feet away, I decided to
peer through my camera’s telephoto lens for a better look. Sammy saw my interest and decided to walk
into my field of view. Plunk. Yep, that blob was a frog. And, now it was gone.
This is where I saw the clump of mud...I mean frog. |
Again, like with so
many other species of nature that I encounter on the farm, I could hear,
hundreds of frogs in this case; but I could not see any.
I sat on the bench
and waited and watched. The dogs decided
to do their frog hunting at the far side of the pond leaving me at peace. Well, not so much at peace, as those frogs
are noisy, but alone.
Then, I saw one just
floating near the shoreline. And, I saw
another two.
I continued to search
and discovered several little bumps in the surface of the water just inches out
from the muddy bank. These bumps were
frog heads peeping above the surface, their beady eyes vigilant for intruders
to their domain. I could see their
throats expand into large balloons at the same time as the din increased.
The longer I watched
the more frogs I saw. Many of the frogs were swimming, many of them puffing
their throats and many of them piggyback. Maybe it was mating season. Like I mentioned, my frog fact list is pretty
lean.
This was my first
real encounter with the frogs…just amazing! I was thrilled.
The next day, the
frog verbalizing had disappeared. My
arrival at the pond was truly tranquil.
There were no frogs…sight or sound.
Timing is everything.
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