Sunday, April 12, 2009

egg hunt

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While most people were searching for Easter Eggs, I went hunting for a different kind.

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Amamniotic.

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You can usually find them in the vernal pools...

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they are the eggs of the amphibians.

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the ecological indicators....biphasic...creatures that spend their youth under water breathing through gills, and then emerge ...metamorphasize...and breath air through lungs. the dark ones are wood frog eggs I believe, but I'm not so sure what the white ones are.

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the actual size...about a fourth of an inch.

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I even found a few that had already hatched, and were hitching a ride on litter- in the form of a plastic milk jug.

10 comments:

Manise said...

Oooh, great post. I have a vernal pool out back and should go an look at what eggs I can see/ find. I hauled out a few fallen pine boughs last week- there was a rainbow like color swirling in the water- no oily contamination I'm sure. Found it interesting though.

Jody said...

Beautiful pics! As a child I was always fascinated by tadpoles and they still are just as interesting.

Leslie Shelor said...

Wow, wonderful lesson and pictures!

Valerie said...

Way back when....around 4th grade, a friend and I used to collect a few eggs in mason jars and watch them progress through the cycle. But they were usually off into the garden so quickly.

First tadpoles, next peonies, and then the school year would be ended with nothing more to do than wait for the summer Weekly Reader to arrive in the mail.

That was also the year I learned to knit. What a simple life!

Cathy said...

I need to get out and look - I thought I heard toads trilling last year - and we do have trolls in the garden - but I haven't found eggs or tadpoles since I left the farm.

Lisa at Greenbow said...

Wow, this is great Cyndy. Better than any ole plastic easter egg.

Unknown said...

That first photo looks like a faerie woodland...so beautiful! (Do faeries hatch from eggs?)
Thanks for the new word...amamniotic...you know how I love a good new word! That one just tumbles off the tongue, too. Very interesting post. Did you take any of the creatures home to your frog pond? Or would the native frogs get jealous? 8-)

vanessa said...

very cool.

Judy said...

I went to clean my pond out and found eggs in it so I am holding off until they grow....spun yarn instead. I will have to thank the frogs later

annmarie said...

an amazing series of photos!

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