Fall Colours, Pollywogs And Rural Mailboxes

Many years ago, I tried my hand at growing water lilies. I bought a black plastic tub designed for water plants and a couple of rather expensive baskets of water lily bulbs. I dug a hole to fit and filled the vessel with rain water. But the venture was doomed! Boat-tailed grackles swooped in and ate all of the leaves including the stems. Buying more plants and installing netting to keep out the birds was further than I wanted to go. So the little would-be lily pond became just a water source for thirsty wildlife.

This year, I noticed quite a few pollywogs in the tub.  There must have been at least fifty of them swimming about. What a great version of a poor man's koi pond the little cuties made.  As I sat and admired them, a frog arrived and kept hopping into and out of the water. I assumed this was a parent of the tadpoles.

My cousin suggested they would probably appreciate some chopped up spinach. Boy, was he right! I tossed in a pellet of the frozen spinach I always keep on hand. They went for it like candy! Reminded me of hungry little cows around a bale of hay.

Now the season is closing in and I'm a bit worried that the tadpoles are not even close to developing into froglets. Some have sprouted tiny back legs but there is still no sign of front legs and their tails have not begun to shrink. Will they be prepared to survive the winter? I know that Wood and Tree frogs freeze solid under leaf litter and thaw out, alive and well in the Spring. But do their tadpoles have this superpower as well?  There is about six inches of mud in the bottom of their little tub. I'm guessing Mother Nature knows what she is doing but I'm a bit apprehensive for their well being.

Update: Jennifer Jilks from MyMuskoka advised that the frog below is likely a Wood frog and that Bull frogs spend their first two years as tadpoles. 

Pollywogs (tadpoles) nibbling on duck weed.

Could this Wood frog be a tadpole parent? Or a predator? Or both?

They really loved this offering of spinach.

 

I added a stick ladder, in case the pollywogs graduate to froglets.

 

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I took my camera along on a trail drive this week. The colours were so nice I just had to share them here.

This flicker paused his bath to watch the pollywogs.

 

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Had a bit of an annoyance last weekend. Someone (I'm guessing bored teenagers) stole my rural mailbox. Mounting post and all.

It was not of great value, but replacing it involves considerable inconvenience. Informing the Post Office to hold my mail, buying a new box, painting my property number on it and building and installing a support post.

Unfortunately, rural mailboxes are all too often vandalized. In fact, I've had to replace several over the years. Canada Post is in financial straits and is considering cutting down on delivery to individual rural addresses and installing community boxes instead. Yes, I'm all for it! Especially accompanied by a good street light and security cameras.