At the Frog Pond

We almost walked right by this muddy pond as we hiked through Buffalo Mountain. It looked like a big mud puddle and I've since discovered these big mud puddles are called Vernal Pools. They appear in the Spring with the rains and often dry up later in the year. They are amphibian breeding grounds.


It was Momo who wanted to take a closer look and this is what we saw...zillions of tadpoles



And frogs. All in different stages of development.



We fashioned a homemade net out of an onion bag, a wire coat hanger, and a dowel and caught some of these little guys to investigate further.






Here's Momo's rendition of one of the tadpoles we caught.



We also spotted birds, deer prints, beer claw marks, millipedes, centipedes, snails, dragonflies, snake skins, and this Great Spangled Fritillary.



Andrew has been doing his fieldwork in the spruce-fir forests tracking out Hermit Thrush and Veery breeding territories. Usually this is done by ear, until now. He spotted his first baby Hermit Thrush!



Here are some beautiful Flame Azaleas from the Unaka Mountains.


And a beautiful view.