Saturday, April 20, 2019

Repeat Resident

This precious little gray frog lives somewhere on the forest floor throughout the winter months and returns in the spring. He makes glycerol (glucose that acts as antifreeze) in his veins which circulates to avoid his freezing during the winters! His heart actually stops! He hibernates in leaves or soil on the forest floor as the days get cold and yet finds his way back here to our deck when the weather warms every spring.

His breeding season is April through August and the female can lay as many as 2000 eggs in standing water. He has a familiar song which is so nostalgic to me. This frog usually hides up in the collapsed green umbrella on our deck as the weather warms. I have opened the umbrella on a warm, late afternoon and am surprised as he falls into my hair or on my arm like a soft damp sponge.  Neither of us panic.  My grandchildren have been surprised as well by his fall. Last week I took this photo of him snoozing on the banister of the deck near the citrus trees.  I should give him a name.


11 comments:

  1. Another amazing creature.

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  2. He is darling, you could call him Pebbles, he looks like a handsome pebble.

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  3. Love the story and the photo!

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  4. been seeing lots of frogs here too...green, brown, and one that is new to me, brown on the legs and belly but green on it's back.

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  5. He's adorable! A tree frog? I love their little croak.

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  6. they spend a lot of their time being inactive.

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  7. Oh fun to have him return year after year.

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  8. Lovely story. Reminds me of Paul MaCartney and the frog chorus.

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  9. Good story Tabor, the Frog is grey, love it.

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  10. We can hear the frogs but never see them. Once in a while a toad shows up so I'm hoping my little dog doesn't discover one and inspect it too closely.

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Glad to hear from you once again. I really like these visits. Come sit on this log and tell me what you are thinking.