July 2nd
– 9th, 2016. A few years ago, we had to relocate a watergarden
barrel during some renovations. I decided to move it back to its original
location just recently.
The barrel had a
couple of inches of wet leaf litter in the bottom. I tipped the leaf litter out
onto the ground and moved the container to its new location.
When I went back
to get its bricks and plant container, I realized that a frog – a Green Frog (Lithobates clamitans) - was sitting in
the leaf litter near my foot. I picked it up and placed it back into the
barrel. Some duckweed, re=introduced into the container, soon spread over the
water’s surface to provide cover.
It wasn’t long
before the frog was comfortable enough to climb out in the late afternoon and…
sit on the side of
the barrel to hunt for insects. Its tympanum, much larger than its eye,
indicates that it is a male.
Recently, he has
also begun to hunt at various times during the day.
When he’s not sitting
on the side of the barrel, he may often be found…
floating in the
duckweed.
Occasionally, he
will make its way to another shallow container to hunt.
Recently a second
Green Frog has joined the first one in the container where I’ve seen them
siting together on the edge of the barrel.
Reference:
Savannah River
Ecology Laboratory: Green/Bronze
Frog (Rana [Lithbates] clamitans]
