Rescue mission !

Yesterday while walking in "my" new woods I spied something unusual in a recently dried-up puddle.  Actually it wasn't ONE something.  There were a couple of somethings.  And the more I looked,  the more somethings I found.

Can you see them ?

Here's a closer look.

The somethings were Wood Frog egg masses.

I wondered why they were high and dry as egg masses can not survive outside of water. My best guess would be that this overly long Winter and late Spring put off the frogs' schedule, and the eggs were laid late and the pond dried up before the eggs had a chance to hatch and grow.

For once I was glad that some thoughtless person had dumped their junk in the woods, as I found a small plastic pail which I filled with water from a puddle ...

and  collected as many masses as I could and took them to a vernal pool in the woods.  I hope that that pool will be able to sustain them for the 6-8 weeks they need to hatch and turn from Tadpoles into Frogs.

Vernal pool in the woods

Today Kaitlyn and I headed back to see if we could find any more stranded egg masses that I'd missed, and to move other batches from a ditch that was close to drying up.

See all the floating masses ?

We gathered them all up and re-located them to the vernal pool

 But stopped for a quick photo op first.

We'll keep an eye on the vernal pool.  Not sure WHAT I'll do if it shows signs of drying up.  I'm hoping for some good Spring rains to keep it replenished.

And I WILL go back tomorrow just to make sure we didn't miss any.

Does this make my head look fat ?

  
  
What a magical time of year it is.  We have slid gently from the delightful, constant rainy, soggy season into the stimulating eat-you-alive black fly season.  


In an effort to combat the latter I have resorted to wearing some very fetching head gear when I travel into bug front lines.

 Not everyone can wear mosquito netting and still look this sexy tramping around in the muck looking for Spring Peepers.

Amy-Lynn and I went to a pretty spot near the Shearwater Flyer Trail which is a part of the Trans Canada Trail system.  

Amy-Lynn catches tadpoles.

It quite soggy there.  Prime bug breeding grounds.

Water pours into my boot print.

We explored the area.    I prattled on as we walked.  Amy-Lynn pointed out interesting plants.  

Wild Rhododendron

Suddenly we both came to a halt when I, displaying the advantages of posessing raging ADD, shouted "Venus Fly Trap!".  I'd spotted the small carnivorous plant on the ground at our feet.  It was a plant that I didn't think could possibly be there.

Click for a better view of the sticky droplets.

Turns out I was half right.   It wasn't a Venus Fly Trap, but it was a carnivorous plant. Thanks to Mr. Google I now know that sundew plants are common across Canada, which surprises me as I've never seen them before.   The leaves are covered in red hair-like tentacles each of which produces a clear, sweet, sticky droplet  which contains digestive enzymes.  When an insect lands on a sun dew, the tentacles contract, trapping it against the leaf.  The enzymes digest the unfortunate insect and the leaf absorbs the nutrients.  Yum. 

 

I want to go back again to see if we can find any salamander eggs or fry.  In the mean time we are happy with the results of our tadpole hunt.