For about the last two months, there’s been an American toad looking for love in our pond. This guy has a call that is like a long, low, trilling whistle; one note (or near enough for my ears), somewhat insistent. People would think it was a cricket, but it’s lots louder than that. There have always been somewhat raucous chorus of green frogs in the pond too. I am not so sure if they’re looking for love or just being bellicose. Either way, they’re welcome to do their shouting.
There are still a few green frog tadpoles in that pond now. We’re slowly watching their legs sprout. There must have been two batches of tadpoles, as there are a bunch of tiny green frogs in there now too. The new froglets, including their soon-to-be-lost tails, are about 4″ long. Lose the tail and they’re about 2 1/2″. The adults are 6-7″ if you stretch their legs out.
I love the pond. It’s outside our dining room, about 12′ from the house. It’s not too big, but big enough to support quite a slice of water life. I like encouraging this little slice of biodiversity.
Glad you came to visit!
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fast grow the weeds 
Great post. I couldn’t agree more about the benefits of any size and type of water for increased biodiversity. Now I don’t know how close your pond is to the garden, but do you see any difference in the amount bad bugs you have compared to your neighbors? I’ve read that frogs are great for keeping down the nasties.
beautiful!
We are stuck with a pre-fabricated pond ….. we dont know where to dig and put it down. We found a space at the back of the house but the Lotus seem like they need sun. We brought back several nice roots from great grandmother’s house in Japan and now they are all settled in this pond liner thing with no visibility on their future spot : ) No flowers yet…I am thinking to move them in tubs to the front of the house.
I wish I could have a real pond where the ducks and the geese could go in too.
Kelly, the pond is quite a distance from the veg gardens; I’d say 150′ or more. I would say that every year I am plagued by a different series of bug pests. Last year was the cabbage moth, the year before that squash bugs, the year before that saw bean beetles. I wish I could say that proximity of good bug eating friends helps but really I am just scratching the surface of what works versus what doesn’t. That said, I do love harvesting algae from the pond (with a stick, like gross green cotton candy) and putting it in a nice cold compost pile, as it works wonders to heat things up. I do put little water features in the veg garden for birds and toads and the like. They dry out every couple of days so I’m not cultivating mosquitoes on top of everything else.
WF, I would think ducks and geese are so NOT harmonious with a small pond! Too much poop. We have enough on our hands just keeping the pond water clean without chemicals or filters. I think lotuses are gorgeous, though. I have no clue if they need sun or not. Ponds in general should be mostly shaded because of their ability to breed algae too.
My peeps are supposed to swim in their own designated pond, but for some reason they find the pond in the vegetable garden fascinating. I need to repair the fence, because you’re right- poultry in the tiny pond is not pretty.
Wow – great photos! I love toads; they do so much good for the gardens, eating all those pesky insects. Nice post.
Oh, they’re not being bellicose, they’re serenading you. I call it the Frog Symphony.
Love the frogs. Especially love a swamp chorus of many different kinds/sizes of frogs….