Of Dog and Birds

We haven't seen them yet, but we have ALL heard little baby bird chirps coming from our backyard bird house. 

D.D. discovers noise coming from our bluebird house.

What in the world is in there? 

I wonder . . . .

 

Aren't you going to do something? 

A Surprise Nature Discovery

One afternoon, the kids were riding their bikes through a field with a big, messy puddle.  That was so much fun, they decided to try it again the next morning.  Only they found something more interesting than mud on their tires.  They found a frog.  According to my daughter, it was a mama frog with a baby on her back.  Hmm.  Never heard that one before.
Walking the dog while the kids rode, I was without my camera and I was wearing open toe sandals - not the ideal attire for this field.  

So, we went back later with the proper shoes, with my camera, and without the dog.  Although we did not find the frog this time, we did find out why she was there (and why my daughter thought she had a baby on her back) - eggs!  
We found a mass of eggs here - 

 And strings of eggs here -

We spotted some tadpoles, too, but they apparently become invisible when photographed.  

 I later read that the smaller male frogs will sit on the larger female ones and fertilize the eggs as she releases them.  The frogs, which I believe were toads, will often choose our kind of puddle because of the lack of natural predators that would exist in ponds.  
We were concerned that Mrs. Frog's puddle would dry up before her eggs would hatch and grow up.  After all, it could take up to twelve weeks for a tadpole to grow its legs and head onto land.  So far, so good.  In fact, we've had rain once  already since we found her, and we're expecting more today.  Whew.