Mouse in the House

The other day, we heard a screeching, and then our plumpest cat came running through the living room with her mouth full and a tail hanging out. :/ We managed to get her to release the mouse, and I thought it was dead, but then I saw it breathe! So after observing it for a little while, we thought it looked okay because it could run around in a garbage can, so we released it outside. We saw the ground cover move so it must have run off. Poor thing. It was just a baby Peromyscus (white footed mouse). I had done a science project once on homing in white footed mice, and no matter how far away I released the mice I caught, they would always come back and get caught in the live traps again. (We would snip their fur to be able to recognize them). This one mouse I had caught several times, except one cold night it had gotten into the trap even though I would close the traps over night, and we thought it had frozen to death. My mother gave it CPR (well, she rubbed its chest) and I saw it breathe! So we kept it in a cage for a week, and then released it. "Frozen Boy" kept getting caught in the traps after that and I can't remember if I continued to transport him and release him, or if I decided to retire him from the experiment.

Buck in backyard.

Frog Update

The large frog has been out regularly and I occasionally see a baby frog. I never did see 200 baby frogs all at once, but have seen one baby frog at a time every now and then. I wonder if it's the same one the whole time, or a new one? I was looking at the baby frog today which looked kind of different, but then it went MIRP! and dove off the plant pot into the pond, which confirmed it's the same species. The katydids are chorusing up a storm. I love the sound because it reminds me of home.

Zoomed in picture of hawk (Oct. 4, 2003).

Hawk sitting on the deck near the pond. (Oct. 4, 2003)

Hawk!

This morning at around 8:30 I heard "ee-yahr! ...ee-yahr!...ee-yahr!" so I looked outside and saw a hawk flying through the forest. It landed high up in the tree canopy. It had bands on its tail and was pretty large-at least macaw sized. There may have been another hawk calling in the distance. It is probably the same species we had seen in 2003. The pictures are of the hawk in 2003, which spent a good 15 minutes taking a bath in the pond.

Baby frog sighting

A baby frog, maybe the same one from yesterday, was in the pond today. I saw a bug, and then I saw it eat the bug, and then it hopped up on the edge of the pond. I also saw the chipmunk today, but it was missing half its tail. :(

Cat Snack or Frog Rescue?

Earlier today the large adult (male?) frog was out, and what I thought was the smaller adult (female?) frog sitting on a pot of marginal plants. On closer inspection, it wasn't the small adult, but a baby frog! It was much larger than the puny froglet I had seen the other day. If it's the same one, it sure did grow fast. It's about the size of a golf ball or silver dollar. Then around dusk, I spotted the stray cat. It looked like it was trying to catch something in the ground cover, and then I saw something jump and I thought it was a toad! So I raced out and shooed the cat away, which at first wanted to ignore me and continue pawing at its find, but then it walked off. It wasn't a toad but a baby frog! It was just sitting there, not moving. We wondered if it was alive, although it had its eyes open. So I picked it up and turned it over to see if it was injured. It was breathing and seemed okay, but it must have been scared. We held it and took pictures, and then were debating where exactly in the pond to release it. It didn't have the patience to wait, and leapt out of my hand and did a belly flop into the pond and went swimming off. So it felt good to save its life, although I feel a little guilty that I deprived the cat of a juicy morsel. Still, I get the feeling the cat is well fed because if it were that hungry it probably would have eaten the frog already. I wonder if there were other fledglings that it already ate. It's the same cat in the picture lying near the pond. So that was exciting to hold the frog. It felt moist and squishy, but he had cute big eyes.

Holding the baby frog.

Baby frog posing for a picture on the pond deck.

Baby frog on walkway.

First baby frog sighting

Last Friday the 24th, I saw that a little frog was sitting on the edge of the pond. It was only thumbnail sized, and didn't move, but it appeared to be alive. I didn't think the tadpoles would turn into frogs that small. The tadpoles are harder to find these days, but they are still in there. The toad was spotted on Saturday in the garage, and the frog has been out recently too. Tonight the large adult frog was out, and then a stray cat walked up, and lay down on the shore of the pond about a foot or two from the frog. I thought it was stalking the frog, but it didn't seem interested in it. When I went outside to try to get a better picture, the frog jumped in the pond, and the cat walked away. I also saw something else new the other day. I saw a bright red bug in the water. I fished it out with the net, and it didn't seem like it wanted to be in the pond, so I put it on a fern. It almost seemed like a large spider mite. The water lily is doing well, and all of a sudden the algae on the pond has disappeared.

Stray cat lying near the pond.

Toad in my Abode

On Friday we had a toad visitor, found in the garage. I held it, and it was real nice. We released it near the pond, and it ate a bug and then crawled off into the vegetation. I had been wishing for toads because unlike frogs, you can easily hold them. I hope we see him again. As for the tadpoles, I found a couple more dead ones, which had legs! Fully formed thighs and calves, but still very puny. They were still attached to the tail, but I saw some live ones with the legs already free from the tail. So that was neat. I wonder what will happen when they all are ready to fledge? If they will stay in the pond or disperse? And I wonder how long it will be until that happens.

My toad friend.

Tadpole Re-count

The frog was out today, and I recounted the tadpoles. There must be at least 200! Plus there was another dead one and we could see that it was just barely starting to get legs.

A couple tadpoles in the net.

Frog sitting on fence in pond, half underwater. Tadpoles are in lower left side of picture.

Tadpoles Galore!

It rained today so the algae was gone from the pond. My water lily had disappeared earlier in the week, but it looked like it was still there today. Then I noticed that the tadpoles are getting so big (although they are only dime sized) that I could see them from inside the house! So I went outside and did find my lily plant, so that was good. Plus the underwater oxygenator cabomba plant is getting longer and you can see the tops of the plant poking up near the surface. My water lettuce I thought was practically gone, but it has divided into 3 small pieces with new growth. There was another dead tadpole on the surface, with obvious eyes starting to form. When I said we had foxes galore, we had like 6, but when I say we have tadpoles galore, I mean we have TADPOLES GALORE. I counted a whopping 73 tadpoles!!!!! I may have counted some of them twice, but still there are at least 50. They must have been hiding before, but when the water is clear they come up to suck air, so I could see them all hovering there at the surface. I took some pictures so we'll see if they turn out. I think they must eat the decaying leaves in the bottom of the pond. Plus I saw a new pond dweller--a beetle swimming around under the water. I had skimmed it off the other day but it seemed like it wanted to be there, so I put it back in the water. So it's like the pond is an ecosystem now.

Frog Identity?

I tried to identify what kind of frogs we have, from the following website, but none of them look like what we have.
http://www.nwf.org/frogwatchusa/frogs_state.cfm?showstate=va#frogs
The closest thing is the Green Frog, Bronze subspecies, except our frogs are dark brown or black and smooth. I didn't think they had any spots either. When they hear me coming, they go "MIRP!" and dive in the pond. I found a dead tadpole yesterday, but I guess that's not too unusual considering I had already found 2 other dead ones. Plus the rest of them were still swimming around so I guess the deck stain didn't do too much damage, if that's even what killed the tadpole.