Frogs – Page 2 – Rippled Effects

June 2, 2009June 2, 2009

It’s a frog’s life

You always hear that about dogs but, in our yard, I think maybe it’s a frog’s life. There are three out on the rocks enjoying this beautiful day here in Connecticut.

I wonder if they have any worries? Where is my next bug coming from? Not around here — the pond draws bugs like crazy. They have all become so tame that perhaps they should worry about the stupid humans stepping on them as we walk around the pond with cameras in our hands.

I’m thinking today that I might like to be a frog with a few fewer worries. Sister # 2 was taken by ambulance to the hospital last night — she’s having what they think are TIAs (mini-strokes). Sister # 1 rode with her and I can tell by her voice over the phone that she is just sick with worry. I am mentally making a packing list and hubby is checking the cost of last-minute flights in preparation for my going back out to the Midwest. In the mean time, I’m starting on some things I wasn’t going to do right away with the thought in mind that they also couldn’t wait until I got back here again if I do leave. I’ve been back a week and two days, though parts of my mind and heart have not left there yet. When will this little family get a break? Just when I thought things were maybe settling into our “new normal”.

September 16, 2008September 16, 2008

Just hangin’ around the pond

Yesterday was a great day for being a frog and hanging around in the pond. Here is one of this year’s new frogs. He likes to just hang suspended in the pond in amongst the lily pads. Look at how he is keeping just one “finger” (I believe it’s his middle finger) on top of a lily pad to keep from drifting away with the water moving away from the base of the water fall. And his older brother/sister is playing peek-a-boo nearby. I think they are the same kind of frog (pretty sure they have the same parents). But isn’t it interesting how one of them appears to have only 3 toes on each front foot and the other clearly has four? And the front ones don’t appear to be webbed, do they.

August 29, 2008August 30, 2008

Hummingbird in the flowers

t’s the end of August and the hummingbirds are busy stocking up on nectar for energy for their long flight to the southern USA and beyond. Earlier this week I caught a male hummingbird, by sight, on the deck but he wouldn’t stay still long enough for a photo. However this female, that I call Hummy, has been feeding all morning and isn’t scared by my opening the door for a closer photo. Some of the pictures are thru the glass doors (two panels as a matter of fact) so they are somewhat distorted. But the three at the plant on the metal hangar I took with the lens sticking out of the open screen. Hummy wasn’t the least bit scared of the human with the camera as she was busy gathering from newly open blooms in the bright sun of this beautiful Connecticut Friday!

Depending upon the angle and what Hummy is doing, sometimes you almost cannot see her wings, but look at her cute little feet curled up under her body as she hovers and drinks from this flower.

Then Hummy went to the ice plant — a bit of a surprise as she doesn’t usually mess with the yellow flowers at all. But perhaps she was just doing a taste test as she prepared to take a break and sit for a bit. It’s funny, but I never think of hummingbirds as sitting down and perching on something like a normal bird, but they do.

Tasting the yellow flower —

Heading up to the rest stop —

Taking a much-deserved break —

So, since I wasn’t getting anything done in the house anyway, with watching the deck constantly with camera in hand, I decided to go out to the other side of the house to capture the “frog of the day” photo. This one is a female and she’s really flattened herself out on this lily pad, enjoying the day and keeping cool and wet in the water on top of the lily pad.

And, last but not least, another pond-side member of Mother Nature’s family — this toad. It is a nightly ritual with me (and sometimes hubby goes along or goes in my place) to go out and say goodnight to the fish and check the area around the pond. A week ago on Friday night, we went out together and hubby spotted this toad backed up into the house right under the front door. He too was not a bit concerned by us going in and out stepping right over him. He also didn’t seem to mind when I got out my camera and took his picture. But then again, maybe he did mind — that kind of looks like a “glare in my general direction” on his face.

Here’s Toady —

August 26, 2008

Mother Nature in full bloom

The two adult frogs in our pond have successfully brought at least 5 new frogs into the world around our pond. They are distinct not only in size, but in their markings, so they are relatively easy to tell apart. However, my naming convention is lacking a bit of originality. So here are Number One —

And Number Two —

And on the other side of the pond our newest water lily is blooming. It is absolutely beautiful.

August 4, 2008August 4, 2008

New “kid” on the pond

It looks like at least one of the tadpoles escaped the hungry mouths of the fish while it was in the pond and we now have a new young frog on the pond. She is small enough to actually sit on a lily pad — how froglike! (The adults, Phinneas, a.k.a. Gurk, and Phyllis are too big and would sink the lily pads if they tried to sit on ithem). She is quite “jumpy” and not nearly as tame as the two adult frogs. If you go anywhere near her, she leaps up into the air and lands in the pond with a big splash. But, I managed to git a little close to her today with the camera for this photo. Welcome — no name yet — “froggie”.

June 16, 2008June 16, 2008

Weekends at the pond

Weekends at our home bring us into the outdoors, working on the various flower beds, the house (yes, those gutters were full of oak tree droppings according to hubby), the veggie garden,etc. But, the best of all is working around and in the pond and observing the parts of mother nature that we share it with. The pond aquaculture has stabilized a bit from early spring and the slimy algae is all but gone. Of course, it’s being replaced by string algae, but that’s more easily removed from the pond and does not obscure the clarity of the water like the slimy stuff does. The new fish are growing more tame — coming nearer and nearer my hand at feeding time. Yesterday, the bravest one actually took a piece of food directly from my fingertips. He is the most brave and seems to be the most hungry, swimming quickly around and sucking up a lot of food pellets. I’ve named him Hoover (after the vacuum, not the president). The others are coming directly to my hand as I place it in the water but they insist on waiting until the food has been released and they can grab it off the top of the water. It’s really fun to watch them feed and my patience is being rewarded by increasingly friendly fish. We feed them at nearly the same time every day and they are quickly learning about telling time too. They start swimming around near the feeding rock and checking it out starting about an hour or so before the appointed time.

The waterlilies are blooming — absolutely beautiful — one plant is white, the other yellow.

And Phinneas is back this year. Hubby named him Gurk after he first appeared this spring. But he is so large and so tame and his markings are so familiar that I am pretty sure that he is Phinneas back for his third year with us here at the pond. He appeared at the water’s edge the very first weekend the pond was full two years ago this fall. Who knows where he came from or how he knew there was a pond being built that he could call home, but there he was. You can see in this photo how his coloring matches the green of the algae covered rock he is sitting on at the water’s edge. No wonder I cannot find him at times when I’m out visiting the pond. When I go out to feed the fish, I call to them and talk to them to coax them out from under the floating plants. Gurk/Phinneas almost always starts talking to me and responding to my voice. Hubby has read, and is convinced, that if I go to the pet store and get some live insects that I could train him to come to my hand for feeding also. Hmmmmmmmmmm…….

$Here\'s lookin at ya\'$

So, while others get into their cars for long drives to their weekend spots, we will be gleefully weekending at the pond.