Fantastic Frogs

We had an unexpected adventure on Sunday morning. Every Sunday morning we go on a bird drive to Utah Lake. We've blogged about this drive here. We saw 25 different species of birds and it was such a nice day that we decided to go for a walk as well.

At the Lindon Boat Harbor, we turned south and drove down past the holding ponds. It's about a mile or so, and you'll know you're there because suddenly the water opens up and you can see the entire lake. We parked right where it opens up and walked out along the dike, noting the coots, yellow-headed blackbirds, mallards, and avocets. There was nothing too exciting, but it was a really nice walk.

Out across the holding ponds there is a dike that runs back to the east and dead ends. We decided to walk along it even though the birds were surreptitiously moving away from us. The reeds were pretty thick, but opened up to the water in a few places. Looking into one of these gaps, we spotted a bullfrog sitting on right on the edge of the water. We crept closer, but before we got too close, he and 4 other frogs we hadn't seen hopped into the water.

We kept creeping and counting. All in all we figure we saw around 50 frogs (or at least splashes). Each time the kids squealed because a frog-- or often two or three or five, would jump and splash. Most of the frogs let out a little squeal, too. I expected the frogs to croak, but these squeals were more like the kind Bugs Bunny makes when Elmer Fudd walks in on him in the shower.

Our 6 year-old declared this "The best birding trip ever" and added that we must be the "frog scaringest family in history." our 4 year-old grinned ear-to-ear, and it was more fun for us to watch the children than the frogs.

The frogs can be hard to spot, but you can't miss the splashes and squeals! (These photos are not ours because we didn't take the camera on this unexpected adventure. The entire walk was only about a quarter of a mile.)