Monday 25 August 2014

Geraldine has a boyfriend

Gerry and Jerry!
We were in the house, with the screen door open, and I distinctly heard a bullfrog croak. Twice.  Now, the females don't, and we know Geraldine (formerly known as Jeremiah) is a female. You can tell by the size of the ear drum, which is a lot larger in males. Outside I went. Sure enough, we now have a Jeremiah.
This morning they are sitting side by each.

The honeymoon is over, though, as Geraldine sits in one end of the pond and Jeremiah the other!
I caught him, wanting to see him up close. 
As I watched the day before, he went after a leopard frog, the little cannibal. The leopard frog made it onto a log. (Surely, I can write a poem or a song with all this?!) It's a frog eat frog world out there!


Geraldine spends her days in the garden, waiting for bugs and leopard frogs, who haunt the dewy grasses. With our cooler nights (15C. last night) she spends the night in the pond, the days in the garden.
Geraldine

The goldfish pond

9 comments:

Nancy Tapley said...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHyxNsE7opY

This is for Geraldine's new suitor :)

Jenn Jilks said...

You are a hoot, Nancy!

William Kendall said...

I wonder what Jeremiah thinks about being held...

Jenn Jilks said...

He didn't seem bothered by it! I petted Geraldine today! I tried to measure her and she didn't want any part of that!

Christine said...

it's a frog's life!

Red said...

Now more information on the mechanics of the birds and bees. As I know it the males fertilize the egg after they are layed???

TexWisGirl said...

such a big girl is she!

Yamini MacLean said...

Hari Om
Your pond has life!!! YAM xx

Jenn Jilks said...

From Wiki, Red.

After selecting a male, the female deposits eggs in his territory. During the mating grasp, or amplexus, the male rides on top of the female, grasping her just behind her fore limbs. The female chooses a site in shallow water among vegetation, and lays a batch of up to 20,000 eggs, and the male simultaneously releases sperm, resulting in external fertilization