Time for another blog! In this month's entry, I want to share with you about the neat things I have gotten to see and experience with an amphibian pond my father and I installed into our backyard many years ago!
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| My Pond as it is currently. Photo by ME. |
I would say back in the early 2000's, my father and I put in a pond to attract various wildlife, though the focus was to attract reptiles and amphibians. At the time, our area was pretty much just farmland, including a huge farmland behind our home. Sadly, it has been developed and I have seen a decline in a diversity of wildlife I have seen. However, I still see some neat animals, so some are still holding on.
Anyway, we experimented with different tarps to use, but they just did not hold up. So, finally, we bought a thick, plastic tub that people use for koi ponds in their yards.
Pictured below is the plastic tub I got ( I have since replaced it with another one, but they do last a long time) and to the right, is part of the large hole we dug to install the pond.
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| Photo by Cecil Family. I don't remember who took it. |
So we got installed, rocks and sticks placed inside, as well as we put in some aquatic plants. As far as plants around the pond, I have just let nature take its course and have had grass, some small trees and such grow up around it.
Pictured below is what my pond looked like sometime in the summer of 2002. Pretty much just had the lily pads in it. I had what I think was arrowhead. I currently have lizard's tail and lily pads in my pond.
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| Photo by ME. |
Once I got the pond settled in, I did start seeing various animals. Mostly spiders, dragonflies, and birds. Sometimes I would see deer in our yard and observe them drinking out of it, which was neat. We did also get a Barred Owl that hung out in our yard for awhile and that was neat too. As far as my goal of reptiles and amphibians, toads were fairly common and from time to time, we would come across an Eastern Box Turtle.
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| Eastern Box Turtle. Photo by ME. |
I would say the reptiles and amphibian encounters near my pond really took of around May of 2003. One night, I heard some Cope's Gray Treefrogs calling, so my brother and I went out to check it out. We grabbed a couple of chairs and sat and listened to them. What was neat, was that after my brother went in and I turned out the flashlight a bit, a male treefrog climbed up on my brother's chair and started calling and I got to watch it and see its vocal sac, which was neat!
Pictured below is a Cope's Gray Treefrog. It is not the one described above, I did not get any photos that night. These are neat frogs to see though!
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| Photo by ME. |
Over the years I have gotten to see these neat amphibians near my pond and on some occasions, in my pond. In fact, they are one of the 2 species that I have seen out there the most, though last few years I have had another species come in and have been seeing them, but will talk about them more later in the blog. The gray treefrogs have bred in my pond too and on one occasion,I found a few young recently ( at that time) metamorphed frogs. Pictured below is one of those frogs.
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| Metamorphed Cope's Gray Treefrog. Photo by ME. |
Here is a mating pair. The scientific word for this, is amplexus.
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| Mating pair of Cope's Gray Treefrogs in amplexus. Photo by ME. |
So it has been pretty cool seeing and hearing these frogs. I have had other amphibians visit my pond. There has been some that have been found around my house and not so much my pond.
Pictured below is a super neat find that was found chilling on my back sliding door. It is a Barking Treefrog, called that because when several of these frogs are calling, it sounds like a dog barking. They are more common on the coast and sandhills
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| Photo by ME. |
Pictured below is a Squirrel Treefrog. I have seen a few around my house over the years. I am sure they have used my pond, and I have seen one actually at my pond.
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| Photo by Me. |
Below is a Pickerel Frog. I have only seen this one over the years of my pond being active. Not sure why I have only seen this one or why it came or where it came from, but its pretty neat it came regardless. A cool fact about these frogs is that their call sounds like someone snoring.
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| Photo by Me. |
So, the pond has yielded a rather incredible diversity of wildlife, especially in the herp department.
So, I have had a few species that I have only seen once to a few times. And there have been a few I had seen on many occasions. Aside from the cope's gray treefrogs, I have also seen Eastern Narrowmouth Toads of a fairly frequent basis. Pictured below is one of these toads.
They are interesting looking frogs that are good to have around as they will eat ants and termites. Their mating call sounds like sheep. I have seen them and heard them.
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| Photo by ME. |
Pictured below are what their eggs look like. On many occasions I have seen them active at night, calling and mating. The next day, there would a lot of these eggs in the pond.
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| Photo by ME. |
So it is interesting that the narrowmouth toads and gray treefrogs are the two prime species that have used my pond. I will also note that their a couple of pretty common frogs that I have seen few to none at this pond, which has been surprising. The Northern Cricket Frog is one that I have still not documented at my pond, nor have I even heard one calling. So, that's interesting. Then, I have only found one Spring Peeper hanging around my pond and it was not even breeding season for this species.
As far as toad go, I have seen American and Fowler's Toads around my yard and observed a fowler's toad doing his mating call and have found toad tadpoles. So they are there.
Below is my pond.
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| Photo by ME. |
Here are a couple photos of some other neat amphibian encounters at my pond:
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| Cop'e Gray Treefrog. Photo by ME |
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| Southern Leopard Frog. Photo by ME. |
Ok, so I mentioned earlier, another species of frog that within the last three to four years, have become another prime species I see in my pond. Well, this species is the Upland Chorus Frog.
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| Upland Chorus Frog. Photo by ME. |
The upland chorus frog is probably not quite as well know by the general public as some of the other species, they are pretty neat though. According to The Frogs and Toads of North Carolina: Field Guide and Recorded Calls, authors Michael E. Dorcas, Steven J. Price, Jeffrey C. Beane and Sarah Cross Owen writes: "Upland chorus frogs call in winter and early spring. Their call is regular repeated "crrreek," sounding similar to fingers running over the teeth of a comb." So these frogs are what you would hear calling in the winter time. So around Jan-March is when I have had activity from these amphibians, January and February being the more productive, active months.
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| Upland Chorus Frog mating pair in amplexus. Photo by ME. |
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| Upland Chorus Frog egg mass. Photo by ME. |
So it has been interesting to see what has come and gone over the years. And to just add one more thing, I have seen a few Green Frogs, I have seen one Bullfrog, but interestingly enough, Bullfrogs really have not taken up using my pond.
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| My pond. |
In regards to reptiles, I have seen some interesting critters. On one occasion, I had a Rat Snake hangout near the pond. I have seen a few racers and a few garters too. About 2 years ago or so I placed some cover boards down to attract reptiles and amphibians. That has yielded a garter, some brown snakes, and worm snakes. So, that has been neat. I have also found a few narrowmouth toads under the board too.
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| Cover board I put near my pond. I have two other pieces down. Photo by ME. |
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| Photo by ME. |
Below are a few of the snakes that have paid my pond a visit.
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| Eastern Worm Snake. Photo by ME. |
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| Brown Snake. Photo by ME. |
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| Eastern Garter Snake. Photo by ME. |
So, it has been pretty cool seeing the wildlife that I have seen. As mentioned earlier, I really not seen many turtles near my pond or in my yard. I have seen an occasional box turtle. But that is just about it other than, last summer, one night, I found an Eastern Mud Turtle in the pond. That was a pretty exciting find for me. Pictured below is the very same turtle. As you can see, he or she was a bit camera shy.
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| Photo by ME. |
It is interesting how I have mentioned I have not seen many turtles at my pond. This morning (5/2/2016) I found a female eastern box turtle at my pond. It was neat! This turtle is pictured below.
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| Photo by ME. |
Once again, I have some more activity at my pond. Tonight (5/2/2016) I found a metamorph frog that is close to becoming a full frog. Plus around 5-8 tadpoles, some that have hind legs, It was neat! I do not know the species though,
Photos are below!
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| Photo by ME. |
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| Photo by ME. |
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| Several tadpoles. Photo by ME. |
So, it has been very neat to see my pond over the years and the wildlife that has come. I have had foxes come to the pond too! Various species of birds have and still do use it, I have seen dragonflies and other insects around my pond too,
A while back, I wrote a blog on nature journaling and where to observe nature. Well, if you create a pond or some other wildlife habitat, it gives you a great place for journaling. It has been a great place for me. So if that is something you are interested in and you are interested in nature and helping out our wildlife, I would encourage you to think about setting up a wildlife habitat in your yard, or even help out organizations or local parks fix up/clean up some habitats,
I hope you have learned something. It has been neat putting down what I have seen and learned. Again, feel free to ask me any questions you might have.
