Looking for Frogs

Today was a beautiful day! Finally sunshine and temperatures in the 50s! Danielle and I enjoyed the weather by going to the park and exploring the vernal pools.

We've kind of given up on the salamanders for now. I think they're about done breeding, so the adults have probably burrowed back down underground. Maybe we'll be lucky and see some after they've hatched and grown into adults, but that will be a couple months yet. So today we were looking for frogs, specifically for spring peepers and wood frogs.

We didn't see either, but we did find a couple western chorus frogs. Peepers and chorus frogs are so little - dime size - and so very difficult to spot! We didn't want to wade into the vernal pools and take a chance on stepping on anyone's eggs, so we tried to spot them from the edges. I finally spotted two but they were towards the middle of the pool and so tiny that Danielle just couldn't find them no matter how many times I pointed them out.

They are so tiny but so loud! And it looks like their throats are going to pop! I have to admit that I got a little closer than I probably should have in the attempt to get a picture. I really couldn't get close enough (or steady enough) to focus well anyway. On our way back we passed a park ranger on the trail. We must have looked pretty suspicious with our bucket and sloshy shoes and wet footprints trailing behind us. Danielle and I had a good giggle about that.