New Frogs on the Way

I have a 20 gallon pond under the Sweet Shrub and there has been a lot of activity in that pond lately. Since it was heavily shaded, I couldn't see what was happening so I used the flash on the camera. And look what appeared; a bunch of frogs to be. Many already have back legs and are starting on their front legs.

Meanwhile a couple of feet away a mature Green Frog stands guard over his domain. Even a little snooty with his nose in the air.

A Golden Frog

Every year we are lucky to get tiny frogs that look like jewels. This little guy was hanging around out front this afternoon. Depending on the light he appears gold or green. And he is the cutest little guy. In the past we have had a bunch of these but so far I have only seen 2. Maybe this guy is the scout and we can look forward to a bunch more in the near future.

Wildlife in the Front Yard

I setup the wildlife camera in the front yard to try to catch a picture of Momma Deer and her baby. Well early this morning I got a picture of a black and white cat. I don't know if this is the one that has visited the pond but he looks pretty sharp in this outfit. This afternoon, I did get a almost great picture of Momma and her baby grazing in the front yard. It is so neat how the babies have all the white spots which disappear when they mature. I don't know if this is the same Momma we saw with two babies last week.

Yes, There are Lots of Goldfish

Even with the Great Blue Heron massacre several months ago, there are still a lot of Goldfish in the pond. The longest of these fish is probably 6 to 8 inches. What is definitely missing are the four biggest and oldest fish. Those four fish were about a foot long and 4 to 5 years old. Two were from the original batch of 12 Goldfish I bought for the very first pond. Those Goldfish were in the 12 for a dollar tank at the pet store.

Bull Frog - Green Frog

On a sad note, the new baby birds died. It's like they hatched and died right away as they are in the nest just like they were in the picture. Mom has stopped coming back and I never saw the snake.
On a happier note, we have had a bumper crop of frogs this year. Here is one of the bullfrogs (about 5 inches long) enjoying a soft mass or plants in the large pond. Below is a green frog that evolved from a tadpole this spring and he is only about an inch long sitting in the river between the waterfall and the large pond.

Baby Birds Second Try

I noticed a couple of birds setting up housekeeping in the danger zone so I setup a new Snake guard. As you can see, there are new eggs in the nest from a picture last week. And today several new babies have been born. Once again it was really neat to see both parents were tending to the newly born babies. Now the big test, will the babies avoid the snake or whatever got the earlier batch in April (see April 17th post). I have set up the wildlife camera out front to try to get a picture of any bad guys coming to visit. If they come, I hope the newly designed snake guard will keep them out and I'll have a photo for evidence.

Two New Pond Plants

This year we added two new plants to the pondscape. First is the Horsetail Rush which is has a bamboo appearance but the canes are quite thin. We bought a small bunch about one foot tall and planted it in the frog pond in mid May. The canes are now three feet tall and the bunch has spread some in the new pot.
The other plant is an Umbrella Palm which has blossomed very nicely. With the spreading palms on top of the stems, it adds a great accent to the frog pond. According to the documentation, this plant can grow to be four feet tall.