Frog’s Serenade

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For days Frog was silent. He kept me company when I was pulling weeds in the garden, because I worked as far away from him as I could. He jumped in the water as soon as I walked back to the house. As I ate breakfast on the porch, I thought I saw him in the water. Yes! I heard a croaking sound and saw his throat expand before the next short song. The word “song” is the wrong name, because he is a monotone.

I thought I detected movement and found the second frog several inches above the first one. This frog was on the edge of the pool above.

I actually saw it move down to the ledge below where the waterfall will spill water into the lowest pool.

I am torn with indecision. I want to get the waterfall going, but I’m sure the frogs will leave if I do. The water is murky and full of leaves. The next time I walk by the pools, I’m going to look for spawn. If it’s there, I’ll wait to see what happens. There is a stream within hopping distance, so they do have a natural place to go if I start the waterfall.

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Published by Anne Mehrling

I'm a retiree who loves to write about life in the mountains of North Carolina.

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27 thoughts on “Frog’s Serenade”

  4. I’d say if you don’t see eggs or tadpoles, you should start the waterfall. The frogs will move on. If you do see them its a tough call because the eggs or tadpoles might not survive. Then again I don’t know if you want to sacrifice your pond long enough for those tadpoles to grow legs and move out.
    Funny story – a few weeks ago my husband had put some of the tomato plants that he has started out on the deck on some warmer days but was bringing them back inside overnight because it was still too cold. One morning we hear this chirping noise in our living room. we searched the area where it came from (the plants) and couldn’t find anything. We did identify the noise as a tree frog. He moved the plants outside and back and we heard it again the next day. It would chirp two or three times throughout the day. Each time we would search but never found it. I think it was inside for 4 or 5 days. Then we stopped hearing it so we assume it moved on while outside.

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  7. Do take care of your new friend.

    My.hugh container of rain water is full of beginning tads..still very small but won’t take long for them to grow.

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  9. I think you should wait if you see spawn to turn on the waterfall. It might be fun to have them around all Summer. No muss or fuss, something different and plenty of photo ops for blog fodder.

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      1. Yes and they probably hop very fast. You take a picture and they’re already out of the frame and you have nothing. I do that with small birds a lot. Good thing it is is a digital camera, I’d be in the poorhouse.

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  12. I am glad you’re concerned about the welfare of frogs, but think that they’ll be okay if you turn on the waterfall. That’s something natural that they should be able to adapt to. Of course, my experience with frogs is limited so what do I know?

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  15. This is such a fun read—those frogs seem to have really claimed the space as their own! It’s funny how nature can throw a wrench into our plans. Kind of reminds me of working with estate planning lawyers right now—trying to balance what I want with all the moving pieces involved. Fingers crossed your frogs stick around if you start the waterfall!

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  16. This story reminds me of last year at our church. We had a wooden cross sitting outside our front door, the one we use during Lent, but before we could get it into storage, a bird made a nest on it. So we left the cross where it was for the next few weeks while the baby birds hatched and grew up enough to fly off.

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