This afternoon my three little nature explorers and I wandered off to the pond at the end of our property in search of frog eggs. The frogs have been croaking for a couple of weeks now and spring is prime egg laying time :)
After a brief search along the banks of the pond we spotted an egg sack or frog spawn (fertilized eggs) within reach! During the breeding period a single frog can lay thousands of eggs. One frog spawn alone can contain hundreds and hundreds of eggs. The freshly laid eggs have many predators. A few of them are newts, fish, snakes, aquatic insects and birds.
Careful, don't fall in!
Once K had safely retrieved the frog spawn from the water everyone crowded around to get a better look.
Here is a close up of a portion of the frog spawn we collected which is a gelatinous liquid that surrounds and protects the delicate eggs. The eggs seem to float inside the gel. Did you know that roughly only 1 in 5 eggs matures into a frog? No wonder they need to lay so many eggs!
Everyone had to have one more feel before we placed the frog spawn safely in the bucket for transport home. We're going to hatch them like we did last year :) We had great success so hopefully this year we will have the same luck.
The following link is to an interesting 2 minute video of frogs mating in a backyard pond. It has some neat underwater shots and close ups of the frogs and frog spawn. You can view it at: http://www.vimeo.com/745654
Make sure you turn up your speakers and watch it on full screen for the best view. Another neat site is this one which helps you identify different frog eggs by telling you the different breeding times, egg sizes, color, hatch time and more!
I've never seen a frog spawn up close and personal! You've really blessed me with these pictures and all the information you shared. I can't wait to watch the hatching from your perspective soon! :'))
Cool! Never seen that before. We used 'grow a frog' to get our froggy. One out of 3 made it into frog form.
I guess that makes the stat you gave pretty acurate, eh?
My husband always shares these sorta nature stories from his childhood -- catching tadpoles. I think that is a fantastic childhood indeed!
I showed my hubby your pictures, he said thats exactly what he used to find as a kid, except smaller. :) Apparently its too cold here in CO for them, thats why my kids don't get to see this neat creation of Gods!
Wow, you have some beautiful pictures on your blog! Glad to see you participating in the Unplugged Project, too -- your rock sculptures look like such fun! Your kids might this perspective on frogs from another young homeschooler interesting: http://www.theyoungnaturalistsblog.blogspot.com/ I certainly didn't know that about the ears and the eyes!
Ok, I think you might be on to something about the frog eggs. I'm going to do some reasearch and see. Thanks for the suggestion.
And thanks for the thumb sucking info. Glad your dentist bill isnt crazy b/c of all that thumb sucking :))
I promised to get over here and I'm glad I did. I've not started my nature blog yet; as I pondered all that I'm involved in right now, I will perhaps wait another month. I do not want blogging to take away from some other areas that are more about purpose and calling.
Thanks for all the ideas I'm storing away as I see such excellence in your blog.
