kittcatt, I hope there are a few alive still. They always do such a good job hiding. After our first winter - well, our first batch of fifty or so goldfish were chopped up in the submersible pump the previous summer. We felt terrible, but as everyone says, how were we supposed to know? We didn't even know to ask the questions. We didn't know they even fitted through the inlet openings of the pump. So we had given up on fish for the time being, and we never did a proper pre-winter clean-up, since there were no fish in the pond, right? You can tell where this story is going... On June 20, when the water was getting nice enough to step into, we decided to scoop up what we could of that mess of dead leaves on the bottom. DH went into the pond, I manned the dead leaf pile. And to our immense surprise, after seeing lots of little beetles jump out of the dead leaves with every net full, suddenly! a six! inch long! bright orange! goldfish! flopping on the leaf pile! We put that beauty back into the water real fast. And went out the next day to get some more fishies! We bought three lovely small koi, and they were very happy together with the goldfish. We named them Demetrius, Helena, Hermia, and Lysander. Not that we knew the girls from the boys or anything. After the next winter, fear in our hearts, but lo and behold, sometime in April I saw Demetrius jump clear out of the water. The six indoor tank goldfish were freed into the pond that spring. That's five or six winter ago, and by now we know a little more and fear a little less. And have a lot more goldfish. The sunny side of our pond has a watery edge today, and we could see some lovely orange and red-and-white little bodies swim around. Haven't seen Demetrius yet. He's much bigger now than the goldies and likes the cold water less. (That we have only one koi left is another disaster story, involving a new beautiful little koi and KHV - koi herpes virus... only Demetrius survived but he is a carrier now, so no new koi into our pond, ever). You know what else I saw? A little one-inch baby, all white with a cute red spot on his belly. I wonder who we can give a few dozen goldies away to this spring? :) Mary *There's always hope!*

As long as they use "breather plastic bags" designed for fish transport, I had excellent luck getting Tadpoles on line with 100% shipping survival via priority mail, 3x last spring and early summer. One order was lost for 2-3 days (5-6 day total shipping duration) and they still arrived happy. Plan on about $1 per Tadpole. Agree ... DO NOT buy or locally catch and move Bullfrogs!! I've had them before from a nearby lake and they do very well, but eat anything that they can get into their greedy mouth, including other frogs, fish, bats, snakes, small birds. Theyre born desperately hungry! Mine have grown from 2.5" to full 6 to 8" mature size in one summer! DNR will hate you, because they roam and often get out. They successfully track water can go a couple miles to find a new area to invade. If you like big and beautiful, look instead for Leopard Frogs. They are native to much of US but are getting rare due to loss of habitat and Bullfrog predation*. How can a Frog Person not like this green beauty? Semiaquatic frogs like Leopards and Bullfrogs will jump all over your yard at night (so must seal fence excape areas!) They quickly learn where the pond safety zone is and can take a series of rapid leaps across your yard or greenhouse and disappear under water. Mine can do this the moment I open a sllding door to go outside. If you are trying to introduce frogs from a wild gathered egg cluster(s) note that the clusters might be salamanders instead! Frog eggs within the cluster mass look like little rounded clear jelly spheres, especially visible when the cluster tears open. Whereas salamander egg clusters look like a jelly mass with no visible clear spheres inside, just the growing amphibians. When they tear open, no clear rounded spheres are evident. Both animal embryos within the eggs mass look rounded at first and then enlarge over time. Near to hatching time salamanders embryos elongate and show an arrowhead shaped head with little gills zones on the sides of their neck. It amazes me that a frog or slender little 5-6" salamader can lay a 3-4"+ diameter egg mass. The masses are not large when laid but swell afterwards. When ready to hatch, enzymes are released to largely dissolve the gel, almost in unison, releasing the babies to roam. * WARNING do not put small tadpoles or tiny frogs into ponds with Goldfish of any size. Unless there is a ton of water vegetation to hide in for instance along shallow pond margins, the fish can eat them about as fast as you eat popcorn (and at $1 per amphibian kernal). Even with cover the fish will hunt them constantly. Instead use a 5 gallon tub to the side or partially submerged, partially shaded from hot sun, and a wire cover to stop raccoon, bird or adult frog attacks. Hatched Tadpoles of any kind grow fast and very healhy when using a pond fish food. Suggest floating a few Goldfish or Koi food pellets, which they nibble on as these softens. A few 'Tads often gather around each floating pellet. Thus, you get to see the 'Tads better and little food is lost or spoils. This also helps indicate when to add more food. Make sure to also have some fine leaved pond weeds therein to hide in and nibble on. 'Tads can mouth breathe if the oxygen gets too low in the container water. However, if there is prolonged or marked frantic gulping for air, spread the 'Tads between additional containers. It is warmer in a bucket than in a pond. Avoid full sun locations unless the bucket is inset deeply into the pond or ground. Obviously, do not add 'Tads to your pond until they are large enough to NOT fit into the mouth of your largest fish! If they do not mature into adults the first year in a cooler climate they will overwinter on the pond bottom and finish their cycle the next year. If the pond can potentially ice over, use waterfall flow or small fishtank air bubbler to stir the surface and keep an open zone for air exchange. Otherwise decaying plant matter consumes the oxygen, and excess carbon dioxide and ammonia fumes can build up, killing 'Tads and fish. Much like goldfish, 'Tads will hunt out mosquito larvae in buckets or ponds. In ponds I suggest having 3-4 of the same frog species in hopes of getting a breeding pair so that the cycle maintains. Frogs can live several years and overwinter well. But for a Frog pond to stay "frogged" you are going to need a fenced yard with board blockage to 2-3' high and enough yard and vegatation to support the insect and earthworm levels needed to support the mature frog population. Fish in the pond are important to stop over tadpole = future frog population. In our yard, we keep a lotus tub with lotus to the side of the pond without fish. This is so we can put in egg clusters there when frog populations are low. If you live near a lake or bog lands and hear frogs in mating season, don't fully board fence your yard. Just BUILD IT (the pond) AND THEY WILL COME. Treefrog populations are especially mobile to the right habitat. The above is A LOT of detail and several years experience working to get frogs established in our yards at two different locations. Based on hard won experience it can take years to get right, and is easy with the right match of mostly the right habitat and then frog species. Bullfrogs are easiest but don't do it unless they surround your yard anyway. Local Toad species might work better if you don't have enough cool leafy forage zones for Semiaquatic Frogs. They still need 'Tad growth ponds to sustain.

Well, yesterday I decided to go a little deeper with my investigations and set off for the new nest site with binocs and the spotting scope. I hate messing with the tripod, and it's tough to be able to quickly pan left to right if something nmoves, but boy you feel like you are right next to your subject!! I was in for yet another surprise. Sure enough, a single eagle was poking around on the ground after something when I got there. The bird continued for a short time, flew up to the nest, and then began climbing up into a thermal . Immediately after this, I spotted the second bird rising up from a group of trees to the north, following the first. I hadn't been able to see this other bird so I was excited to see both were around. I had my sister on the cell phone giving her the details when the third bird appeared. I was certainly not expecting this. The three were rising incredibly fast...the first two were already small specks, and I had quit following them with the binocs. By the time I noticed the third eagle joining them, it was too late to say for sure if it had the white head and tail, but I think I did make this detail out before it got too high. Not being 100% certain, I can't say whether it was a juvenile or an adult. At first I tried to tell myself it had to be a turkey vulture, but there was no mistaking it and it soon caught up with the first two as they drifted off to the west. But what the heck was a third bird doing at the nest site? I guess I have questions for an eagle specialist....I think I read that they are monogamous. Was this a hopeful interloper? Maybe the other nest two miles away has a male that swings....How long does the chick (chicks if it's a really good year) from a single season hang around after it fledges? And of course, this wasn't last year's bird at all if it already had the white feathers. I guess one thing that needs to be done is to atake out the old nest back at the highway and see if there's a white head hunkered down in there. It's possible we have been missing the activity and sitting is already taking place. Later, two of the three birds did return to the nest, with one sitting on the nest itself and the other taking up a post at the perimeter. Then it got too dark for the scope and I decided to pack up and head home. So , the story continues!! BTW, several people stopped to see what I was doing, and a few of them were people I know who live right across the field from the nest/s. I managed to get some good info from several of the ones who stopped. Amazingly, the couple who live closest to the site thought the smaller nests were swan's, and had not even noticed the huge monster so out of place there in the middle of them. When I told them it was an eagle nest and that there was a bird on the nest right now and held out the binocs, they just said how nice and drove off. Before they left though, I did ask them if they could recall what month the herons had been coming back to the nests, and they said closer to April. That was the time of year when we first found the rookery, and the leaves were just coming on. Then another fellow pulled up, and seemed a bit more interested. As it turned out, he had just been in charge of logging this same area last year (yippee) and decided at the last minute to leave the few big trees right around the site. He said you could walk right up underneath it all (although the mess and the ruckus was unbelieveable)and they didn't even seem to notice. Then in the fall they just vanished. He thought something bad must have happened but I wonder if they didn't just fledge and move on. so that's the story for now.

I came back into town for the weekend, so I decided to do a little herping at one of my favorite places yesterday. I have found many different things in this area, but had the goal of finding a Ringed Salamander on this day. I knew of a few different ponds in the area but had never really checked them out before, except during the spring, when I found a few Spotted Salamanders at one of the sites. Yesterday, I looked around at a new pond though. It didn't take very long to find my first ever Ringed Salamander hiding under a log between a few pieces of bark! I was very excited to lift the log and see its bright yellow and white rings! By the time I had walked around the whole pond I had found a total of 5 of these beautiful salamanders, many eggs, and larvae also! I also found 3 dead ones, is this common in salamander breeding sites? Also seen at this spot was 4 Central Newts, many tadpoles, and many Blanchard's Cricket Frogs. It was also a goal of mine to find a Timber Rattlesnake den site at the same area, but in a different spot. I had found this spot over the summer in early August and it looked perfect for Timbers. There are bluffs with forest all around them. The ground is also very rocky in the general area. I had found horridus in the area before and thought that maybe this was where they stayed for the winter. During that day in August I had found some Timber shed along the bluffs, which I now have here at my house. I spent a few hours at this location yesterday but didn't find any rattlesnakes. Although it was sunny yesterday, I guess it was just too cold and maybe a little too late in the year. I ended up finding a Yellowbelly Racer, a large Slimy Salamander, Ground Skink, and many Fence Lizards at this spot yesterday. Sorry, I have no pics to post right now, but I'll try to post them later. Hope everyone didn't mind reading a bit!