There is a frog, that sits on the edge of the pond.
She is always in the same spot. Sometimes on land, just outside the water. Other times floating in the water, her head sticking out. She’s not afraid of me or the dogs. I can put my iPhone inches from her face and take a picture and she doesn’t move.
Every once in a while, if Fate or Zinnia get too close, she’ll dive under the water, only to come up a moment later and resume her place on the edge of the pond.
I believe the frog is a female because she is bigger than some of the other frogs I see. And if you are a Green Frog, which she is, females are larger than males.
Green Frogs look a lot like Bull Frogs. An easy way to tell the difference is by the fold of skin around their eyes. You can see it in my photo above. The skin fold goes down her back. If she were a Bull Frog it would just wrap around her ear ( her ear is the round circle just behind her eye).
Another way to identify a Green Frog is how they squeak as they jump in the water. I took the video below of another Green Frog jumping in the water as I walked along the edge of the pond.
Yesterday after letting the sheep and donkeys out to graze I visited with the Green Frog by squating next to her and being very still.
I saw the first dragonflies. One hovered near me circling round and round on blurry wings. When another dragonfly came too close they’d do a dance chasing each other till the newcomer flew off.
Then I heard the hollow gulp come from across the pond.
I saw the frogs head jutting just above the surface of the water, hidden in the shade of the pussywillows. Then another gulp from even further away. I looked down at my frog just in time to see her throat swell then deflate, producing her own loud rubberband gulp.
I wanted to capture it on video, so I dangled my iPhone from my hand, pressed the button turning on the camera and waited, turning my focus back to the dragonflies.
When I heard the loud gulp I knew I got my video.
I don’t know why my frog doesn’t hop away when we get close to her. It’s doesn’t seem like a good way to survive in a pond.
Last year we had very few frogs in the pond. They were eaten, I think, by the Great Blue Heron who feasted there. I’ve read that Herons hunt and fish by looking for and animals movement. So it would actually be savvy of the Green Frog to hide by being still in the presence of danger.
I hope this is true.
I’ll keep an eye on the Green Frog as the summer moves on. And hopefully there will be frog eggs and tadpoles too.
