Nelson County Rocks

Our life in Virginia revolves around simple pleasures, such as observing our little pond in the backyard.  This is surprising: the little artificial pond was in sorry shape when we moved in, and our first instinct was to tear it out.  All that changed in late April when we realized that a green frog had taken up residence there.  There was no way the new landlords were going to evict him.  But the natural life of the pond has proven to be far more elaborate than we first realized.

A male green frog has been the dominant presence at the pond, but he appears to be visited periodically by females, judging by consecutive waves of tadpoles and the nighttime picture on the right, taken in early July.  His banjo-string-sounding croak is heard throughout the day and evening.

Nights after rainy days or evenings produce temporary visitors to the pond.  The loud trills of treefrogs are almost ear-splitting, as they gradually come down to the pond searching for mates (the fuzzy middle picture above appears to capture such a moment), producing new batches of tiny tadpoles.  By mid-September, no more tadpoles were visible in the pond, but the young frog in the picture on the right was on a swiss chard leaf that I picked and brought into the kitchen.

Click here for a one-minute nightime video of our green frog and two tree frogs.  Listen to their calls and note how their throats expand.