Vernal Ponds

Vernal ponds are ponds that are only available in the spring. Starting early, often when parts of the pond are still frozen, it becomes a brief home to thousands of frogs

This year , with little snow during the winter, my favorite vernal pond is about half of what it should be.

The warm spring day I went to check it out, you could hear the frogs calling from the road.

Lifting their voices in hopes of getting a chance to mate, the frogs covered the surface of the pond.

I could hardly hear my self think and my ears were actually ringing from their songs.

Frogs use these ponds to mate , lay their eggs, then they return to the woods .

This year the eggs were plentiful and hopefully we will get some rain to fill the pond so the eggs have time to hatch and move on.

A hollow tree provides nesting and food for the

Pilated Woodpecker.

Vernal ponds are brief but beautiful and an important part of the ecology.