Frog Day

Wednesday we had a great adventure. Our Forest Service has a Frog Day that volunteers and children are encouraged to participate in. This was our first year to join in and did we ever have fun!

It started with about an hour of training and then we were divided into groups. Each group had at least one biologist or experienced person in it. Ours had two. Pat, our driver was a fish biologist and had quite the knack for finding critters. He decided he wanted us to see tailed frogs, so he plunged into a very cold, rushing mountain stream. Within seconds, he'd collected 6 tailed frog tadpoles (pictured above).

We were outfitted with hip waders and nets. The hip waders ran out, though, so I used my rubbers. We spent the day splashing through wetlands, searching for amphibians. We were rewarded with 20 spotted adult frogs, four common garter snakes and hundreds of tadpoles of the spotted frog and quite a few salamander tadpoles. We learned that salamander tadpoles have gills. At the first and last wetlands of the day, I fell in past the tops of my rubbers and filled them with pond water. I must say that carrying several extra pounds of water weight around was interesting!

Mr. Blueberry Eyes and Laughing Water thoroughly enjoyed it. While I was initially just going for the kids, I really had fun, too. We even saw a black bear cub while we were driving. I'm reminded that there is no substitute for just getting out and enjoying nature! - Nanette