🐸Moving the froggies

 🐸UPDATE: Saturday, Nov. 13, I found #46 and the girls took it down for me.

UPDATE: Frog #39, Thursday, Nov. 10, while I was stacking wood. Also, 6 more, after Nutmeg found one = 45 total moved to better winter hibernation spots. 

UPDATE: I moved another frog Nov. 9th, that makes 38!  

I made four trips down to the wetland last week to deliver a total of 18 frogs. I had recovered enough by Oct. 19th to go frogging again. I captured 3 in the morning, 5 in the afternoon. 

The water is getting colder (4˚ C., which is air temperature this morning), and the freeze/thaws of Climate Change doesn't bode well for my froggies. They get trapped under a layer of ice, and then it thaws. They rise to the top and freeze overnight. It's a horrid thing to see.

That makes 26 froggies I've trucked down to the wetland, which is wetter than it has been. We had another dump of rain overnight. (15 mm or 3/4 ")

 

I counted them, there were 7 still visible. I gave up for the day, though. They are getting a bit wary and hide when I just approach. It's a good challenge for an old girl!

Oct. 20th – I moved 5 more in the morning = 31 froggies moved from the goldfish pond to the wetland.

Then there was the toe biter incident. I couldn't believe it. Toe biters prey on frogs, you see. Here is one from 2014 in the process of sucking on its prey. [I did not scream like a girl!] I released this froggie, back in the day. 

"It has a penetrating semi-retractable proboscis. Think of it as sort of a mosquito way of feeding. It has digestive enzymes... seizes prey in its arms like a praying mantis would.... then jabs its pointy bit into the prey.. and slurps out the goop like a spider."

The little twerp was accidentally captured in the net with the frog. It is amazing it didn't get the goldfish. I didn't want it to stay in the bucket with the frogs. I put my hand under it and whooshed it out onto the ground. Picking it up in the net, I took it down to the wetland with the frogs.

After lunch, 5 more froggies. This time Cinnamon helped me. That makes 36 froggies. My buddy came with me. What a wonderful days it has been. It's about to get cold, though. Here he is running to keep up with me. (He gets distracted!)

I wandered outside, again, and found one more frog. To save my foot, JB took it down to the wetland for me, I was done for the day. That means 37 frogs we've moved.

Oct. 21st I noticed two small frogs, but that is it for a few days. 

Fortunately, my foot brace arrived, and I could put my foot up! It's not cheap, but it really helps my tenosynovitis, which I developed in 2011. Ah, ain't old age grand?!

Autumn continues to unfold. The magnolia has gone to seed. It's amazing from flower to fruit to seed pods.

The milkweed have gone to seed. I shall anticipate them for next year, as well as the monarchs!

We still have some colour, although they are falling fast. Soon I'll have to go up the ladder and clear out the eavestrough.

Maggie Magnolia

 

I keep forgetting a out Maggie Magnolia. Someone posted a photo of theirs, and I remembered to go look! There is a complex system to keep the deer out. You can see where they chopped off the main branch, back in the day. We've had windfall, I must get that tree down in the background.

The robins are good, too. She seems to tolerate me, but not too close. She's at 3 eggs, as of 3 p.m. yesterday.

I found a bumble bee in the basement. It was a bit loopy. I imagine it came in through the chimney, just like our bat.

Someone on Twitter suggested "I think the one on top is a Red-shouldered Hawk and the one below is a Red-tailed Hawk."

Who knows?! They were pretty to watch, and didn't seem competitors.

Good news, the phoebes first egg hatched at 9:08 a.m.! phoebe hatches  

The event was almost done by 2:30 p.m.

 

Flowers!

Maggie Magnolia is nearly ready! You'll note the chicken wire to protect her from the deer!


So is this one, nearly ready, and I don't know what it is. I moved it two years ago, and it's finally going to bloom.


Candy tuft or Iberis sempervirens


Periwinkle

violets

Then there are mice friends...



Leopard frog: they can be brownish or a brighter green.


lilacs


Bob V with bleeding heart

Handy work in the yard and at the pond

Maggie Magnolia has two blossoms this year. You can see how I protected it! Sadly, Bambi has nipped the top. Another project, a tall branch, and wrapping.

On the frog pond front, only one momma wood duck has prepared a nest. This is terribly late, and I'm wondering if the early spring, and hot weather turned off their hormones.


I'm happy to note that one female was on the pond, and she's laid 8 eggs (more or less!). You can see Daisy looking for her chipmunk friend. I also managed to find some poison ivy near the wood duck nesting box. sigh.

It was a busy day, the other day. I replaced two hose reels, after researching them for through sales flyers. This one on the back of the house. We are only watering judiciously.

There is an engineering error in #2. Both the hose and the reel are made by Yardworks. When the hose is rolled up, it blocks the flow. I've been trying to undo it only a bit, to water the goldfish pond nearby, but I have to unreel the entire hose. I snipped off the black protector, and it sits better now. Silly engineers!


 I was serenaded by three tree frogs in the dead elm beside me as I worked, as well as the tree frog that inhabits the water barrel. I took him out once, but he seems to find bugs inside the barrel!