Frogs in the House
From the bull pen:
When I moved North Idaho it was to a large basement apartment of a log home in the county. The basement hadn't been lived in for years - for reasons to be explained at another time. As I soon discovered in the shower, the house was inhabited by frogs, small frogs.
Very dutifully I carried each outside and released them in a shady spot. The frogs kept coming and I'd put out one or two a day. A library book on frogs revealed that they were Pacific tree frogs. Everything in the book about them was exact. The size, the diversity of color from dull brown to a yellowish green with various combinations of oblong spots. The description of their sound, which the book likened to a ratchet, was perfect. The problem was that (going by the habitat map) Pacific tree frogs aren't found in Idaho. But I figured that herpetologists (the ones who study reptiles and amphibians - not Herpes) had never been to Idaho, at least not this part of the State.
Years went on. More frogs. No problem, I'd just let them out. Then one day I noticed a frog and fly on the inside of the window. I went to do something in another room. When I returned the fly was gone. Ah ha! The frog stayed. All these years I had been swatting flies.
Now my new hobby was watching frogs hunt, stalking their prey on the like a cat (except that cats don't walk vertically on glass windows) then pouncing. From my kitchen chair, I'd watch through binoculars. Close up action. But not good enough. I had a 300mm lens for my camera to which I attached a micro lens. I played theme music from Jurassic Park, focusing on a frog eyeball. Even though everything else was out of focus, it felt very prehistoric.
Then I got to worrying if the frogs had enough to eat. I left the door open to let the flies in. Still I worried. So I would go out and catch flies (they were quite abundant around the horse barn).
A farmer friend called them three-toed tree toads. I didn't argue. But I know they're frogs. Toads are dry, these were moist. Besides, toads in the house are so tacky.
When I moved North Idaho it was to a large basement apartment of a log home in the county. The basement hadn't been lived in for years - for reasons to be explained at another time. As I soon discovered in the shower, the house was inhabited by frogs, small frogs.
Very dutifully I carried each outside and released them in a shady spot. The frogs kept coming and I'd put out one or two a day. A library book on frogs revealed that they were Pacific tree frogs. Everything in the book about them was exact. The size, the diversity of color from dull brown to a yellowish green with various combinations of oblong spots. The description of their sound, which the book likened to a ratchet, was perfect. The problem was that (going by the habitat map) Pacific tree frogs aren't found in Idaho. But I figured that herpetologists (the ones who study reptiles and amphibians - not Herpes) had never been to Idaho, at least not this part of the State.
Years went on. More frogs. No problem, I'd just let them out. Then one day I noticed a frog and fly on the inside of the window. I went to do something in another room. When I returned the fly was gone. Ah ha! The frog stayed. All these years I had been swatting flies.
Now my new hobby was watching frogs hunt, stalking their prey on the like a cat (except that cats don't walk vertically on glass windows) then pouncing. From my kitchen chair, I'd watch through binoculars. Close up action. But not good enough. I had a 300mm lens for my camera to which I attached a micro lens. I played theme music from Jurassic Park, focusing on a frog eyeball. Even though everything else was out of focus, it felt very prehistoric.
Then I got to worrying if the frogs had enough to eat. I left the door open to let the flies in. Still I worried. So I would go out and catch flies (they were quite abundant around the horse barn).
A farmer friend called them three-toed tree toads. I didn't argue. But I know they're frogs. Toads are dry, these were moist. Besides, toads in the house are so tacky.
posted by HV at
1:30 PM
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