Interesting. This is my second batch of toadpoles this year. Last time I had em in all three puddles instead of just the one. The toads hadn't been gone a full 48 hrs before dh found the new eggs. I was just questioning Horton the other day about a comment he made regarding toad eggs. I just couldn't imagine removing toad eggs from my pond considering how few actually survive in our current environment (pesticides & all that). I'd almost come to the conclusions that it might be a regional thing...we've been in this house 12 yrs (had a pond for 7) and I've never seen more than a couple of toads hanging out in any given year. ON THE OTHER HAND, dh claims to have counted fourteen adults (14!) the night he took the pics :0 I love to sleep with the windows open and listen to their 'love songs' lol. However, I'm sure my attitude would be quite different if I had to watch where I stepped or worry about mowing the lawn. (Hmm...still not sure I could destroy eggs but suspect I might find the stomach for it if the need arose) All that said...it's an AMAZING site to see and I'm thankful for the opportunity. And praying I'll never have to make *that* decision ;) Hope you have a wonderful showing for the Pond Tour! ~digger

HA! That's pretty funny, mnktx. I went to a concert last night and ever since, "76 trombones in the big parade" has played in my head OVER and OVER, so they did it for you in advance. :-) If you're really interested in stuff like that (wasp eggs on caterpillars), you can follow the link below. Some folks at North Carolina State University's department of Entomology developed "a freaky tag-team of bugs" to eat kudzu, the vine that ate the South. Where I used to live, I watched a car parked at a garage get covered in kudzu in a matter of a couple weeks--it's beautiful, but it's the most aggressive plant I've ever seen. They didn't want the caterpillar to go nuts eating everything else, though, so they infected their caterpillars with an organic time bomb--wasp larvae in their backs which would eat them from the inside out. Poor caterpillars! Here is a link that might be useful: Freakish Bug Tag Team Article

i was reading this thread with interest. i have a situation where it appears i have 8 bluebirds who have hatched in one nest (thursday may 2, they were born). it may be 9, it's hard to tell. while monitoring the nest in late april i noticed what appeared to be eggs missing from the 3 that had been laid earlier in that week. the reality was that the eggs had been pushed down deeper into the nest and covered with pine straw. the mother kept coming back (may have been another species coming in and covering the egg with straw? i have seen no house sparrows here at all) and eventually she started laying again. turns out, there were 10 eggs total in this nest when she was done! i guess five from the first attempt and 5 after that. bottom line, 8 babies are in there now. i'm putting out meal worms twice a day and making sure there's lots of water nearby in the bird bath, and plenty of shelled sunflower seeds for the parents nearby in that feeder. anyone ever seen or heard of a situation like this?

I live in Central Alabama, and moved to a new house 4 1/2 years ago. I have seen this couple every season in my small backyard, and at first didn't know what they were. They are so beautiful, and larger than the photos in any of my bird reference books. I am so happy to know that they have actually chosen to nest here in my yard. The shrub the nest is in is an abelia, and I have several of them. They get very dense, and I thinned out the foliage and removed several of the branches. I hope the towhees don't decide not to nest with me again because of it. I'll have to be a little less vigorous with my cutting and pruning next season. I found an empty nest in another abelia and I'm thinking that they may have used it last season.