Hatched Tadpoles

Tadpoles developing in their cases.

One free swimming tadpole and one ready to hatch!

Free swimming, two days after hatching. Note the external gills.

The kids are thrilled to see them swimming and growing. So far, I have counted (roughly) 13 swimming tadpoles. They are hard to see, and they like to hide, this is a very rough count.
Maybe we will end up with more than 2 fully developed frogs, which is what we had last year.

Day 5 still in eggs cases

I am amazed the eggs transformed so quickly (over the weekend).

Last year we are not able to see inside the cases because they were

covered with a fine layer of pond scum -

so watching the prehatching development was difficult.

For those of you who can't yet tell the difference

here is the retrevial photo:

Frogs . . . again

I know you all have been holding your breath in anticipation - you can all breathe a sigh of relief now . . . I have frog eggs again! For those of you who didn't get to see the postings from last spring - I found frog eggs and had them in my classroom for the students to view. They were such a huge hit (with students in my class as well as school wide). I decided that tadpoles/frogs will be an ongoing part of each spring; provided I can find eggs.

This spring it was necessary to wade into the "less than clean" water to retrieve the little buggers. Let's just say that I think I will be looking into buying a pair of boots for next frog season!
Enjoy the photos, click on them for close up viewing.

-A Pillsbury frosting container with 3 egg cases.

-Looking down into the frog habitat.Can you see the egg cases? No?!

-How about a close up.

-And an extra close, close up.

Squirrel Chase

How many baby squirrels do you thing we will have this spring?

Backyard birds

A few weekends ago I decided to take advantage of the warm spring sun, and I spent an afternoon cleaning off my deck and arranging all my plants; most of which made it through the winter quite well. Here are some photos from this weekend - after the snow storms.

Finch and a Chickadee at the sunflower seed feeder.









A Chickadee getting a drink from the cleaned out bird bath.

March Snow!

So, spring break brings to mind lazy warm spring days and . . . snow?

School Flower Garden Update

The crocus, tulip and daffodil bulbs that my dad helped plant at school are blooming!

Daily the students come running in from recess shrieking about what flower they can see now.

It is very cute to watch them point out which bulb they know they planted; which is just not possible considering we planted around 40 bulbs! I am glad they are learning and having fun at the same time.

At home-

Normally I have chickadees or humming birds and occasional junco and some red finches. On Sunday morning this little guy showed up. At first I thought it was a purple finch, but after some searching I think it is a male house finch. I was so surprised because he was orange. The photo is not very clean, I had to take the picture through the screen, I knew he would fly away if I tried to open the door.