I'm glad you found my pond.
Several years ago, I put a little pond in my yard. One of those black plastic ones that are like miniature swimming pools. We dug a hole, put some plants around it, got a little fountain and everything. At first, I tried to have it be a home for goldfish, but they kept disappearing (not sure where they went!), so eventually I left it alone.
Then one day I was walking past the pond and noticed a frog sitting on a long leaf that curved over the water. With amphibians being on the decline, a frog sighting, for me, is almost up there with a unicorn sighting. As I stood there admiring the gleaming little guy, my gaze drifted and I saw another…and another. These plants that made little diving boards over the water had become a frog community center.
I walked away marveling at the way a frog can find a pond. There were a few months when I worked at a Superpetz here in Columbia. I don’t recommend working at a big chain pet store if you love animals, but sometimes, you know, you just need a job. This particular Superpetz had just had its grand opening and was super-psyched about all its pet supply grandeur, including a display of a pond. Just the same type of pond I would later buy for my own yard.
One day a large frog (maybe a bull frog) came right through the automatic doors of this shiny pet shop. How did it navigate the hot pavement, the busy parking lot, the general lack of water in the vicinity? I have no idea. But it happened. And we, the new employees, did what seemed to be the right thing. We plopped him right into the pond display. One of my co-workers was a big guy named Roy who looked perfectly at home with a giant boa constrictor lounging on his shoulders. Roy started catching flies for the frog, dipping them in the water and watching for the inevitable frog tongue to zap them up. It really helped pass the time in between inventorying squeaky toys.
I don’t know how a frog finds a pond. Does a frog leave one secure pond to search bravely for another like some amphibian sodbuster? Are there intricate social factors that force a frog to leave one community and search for another? Do they gets tips from birds? It’s the kind of little miracle that makes me think about all the other ways we happen into our own life stories: all the moments of chance that lead up to where we live, how we pay the bills, and who we can call our lasting friends.
All of these thoughts are a part of “Somehow a Frog Finds a Pond,” especially the idea that eventually you will find a friend, which is the part I could have used some reassuring about along the way. You can listen to the song and you can visit the National Wildlife Federation’s Frogwatch USA here.
