Only a few short months ago, it was spring in the Northern Hemisphere of North America where I reside. Among annual tasks: getting the bath-tub sized garden pond cleaned up and ready to go. Here's what it looked like.
Cleaned up and ready to go, fountain running and everything.
Three pots of water lilies are in place, a pot of cat tails has been placed in one corner, and the garden is starting to sprout around it. Soon to be added: some inexpensive feeder goldfish, to be joined by the local frogs as they discovered it was open for business once more.
But that was then; this is now. This peaceful aquatic community of the summer could not last: Frogpocalypse happened today. More below the Orange Omnilepticon.
It's been a good summer for the pond. Despite the arrival of a predatory water snake at some point, both goldfish and frogs managed to get at least a few survivors through to October. The water lilies have done so well, they were re-sectioned in the spring and some of the chunks were given to a friend with a pond where they took root and thrived. I've got two kinds, pink and red ones. Here's a look from a couple of months ago.
Full bloom. The lilies open during the day, then close as night falls. They do this even if cut and placed in a bowl.
The lilies, the water, and the lush growth around the pond (Iris, Day Lilies, Hosta, and assorted weeds) attract frogs. Any help with mosquitos is appreciated, and they're fun to have around. But, come the fall they have to be relocated. They'd like to overwinter at the bottom of the pond, but it doesn't seem to be deep enough or big enough for them to make it. So... Frogpocalypse!
Starting the draining process. As the water is pumped out, I can get the water lilies out of the way.
I start pumping water out of the pond. This lets me get the water lily pots up and out of the way. I'd have to drain the pond in any case, because the goldfish are coming indoors for the winter. I have a ten gallon aquarium waiting for them in the basement. You might be able to see one in the photo above.
Drained, and everyone out - you can see the lily pots, the wet-dry vac, and the remains of the plants around the pond.
As you can see, it's not pretty. The goldfish get excited and hide in the muck at the bottom. The frogs decide it's time to go elsewhere. As the water drops, they try climbing up the sides to get away into the surrounding vegetation - which is not in too great shape this time of year. I use a sump pump to get most of the water out, and do the last inch or two with a wet-dry vacuum. I have to get just about all of the water out to get the last goldfish - then I start on the frogs. I use a fish net for both.
How many frogs do you see? I got a count of around 20 or so.
Here's this year's crew. One of the things I've noticed over the years I've had the pond is that as Fall approaches, the frogs who were bright green just a few weeks ago become darker, the better to blend into the mud at the bottom of the pond. I've yet to see this color change mentioned in the frog literature I've skimmed, but it's very noticeable. I also wonder if it might be a response to falling temperatures - they'd heat up that much faster in the sun. What you see here are mostly
Green Frogs, with one
Leopard Frog. I've had
Bull Frogs in the past, but not this year.
The one Leopard Frog is in the middle of the top row of frogs.
With everyone out, I use the vac to get most of the muck out of the bottom of the pond, do some clean up on the plants around the edges, and put the water plants back in - they'll do just fine over the winter.
Plants back in the pond, just waiting to be refilled with fresh water.
The frogs got a brief road trip around the corner to a lake; they got put in to find their own winter quarters. While the pond is now frog-free, there will probably be a few that find their way to it before it freezes - I always find a few corpses in the Spring. I have no way of knowing if it's any of the gang I relocated - there are plenty of frogs in the area. I'm sure they don't appreciate getting relocated, but Frogpocalypse at least gives a chance to survive over the winter.
Here's the pond refilled again and ready to freeze - with luck still a few weeks away.
And thus Frogpocalypse concludes for another year.
Meanwhile....
The goldfish are settling in to their much smaller winter quarters. They've all gotten bigger over the summer (the survivors anyway), and they've all gotten more colorful from being outside where the sun shines. Come the spring, they'll be headed back out again.
"Where are we? WTF just happened?!?!!"