Nature Report

From time to time, my mother and I call each other with "the nature report." It might be a new bird seen out the window, an 8 point buck in the back yard, or some interesting or unusual animal behavior. When Mom called me this morning at 7:30am with her nature report, I thought she might have seen the first daffodil of spring. Imagine my surprise when she declared, "There's a frog in my toilet."

My first thought was, "It's too early for April Fool's, Mom." My second thought was, "Blog-worthyl!" After she told me Froggy was resisting her attempts to flush him away, I knew I had to drive over for a little capture-and-release action, and of course, photos. It's all about the frog, erm - "blog," right?

I showered, dressed, and hurried off to the rescue. As I drove to Mom's place, I wondered whether I was about to rescue the frog from the toilet or my mother from the frog.

By the time I got there, Mom had trapped her unwelcome guest in a clean butter tub, with holes punched in the top for ventilation. Mom's not cruel, after all. I was disappointed that I missed the chance to take his picture in situ, so to speak, but Mom said he was escaping the toilet and she didn't want free-range frog in her condo. I resisted the temptation to reenact the event by throwing the frog back in the toilet. I settled for a photo of him in his plastic prison.

I figured only a tree frog would be able to hang onto the porcelain during a full force flush, and I was right. Say "hello" to Mr. Gray Tree Frog. Check out the suction cups on his toes.

I only got this one shot, since he was determined to flee. I prepared to turn him loose. "You'll take him to your farm, right?" asked Mom, hopefully.

"Nope! He lives here, so I'll put him on the dogwood tree right outside your door, Mom."
I spent the next few minutes getting up close and personal photos of this cute little guy. I love his jewel-toned eye. See his ear, right behind the eye?

He really blends into the lichen-covered tree bark.

He's camo-frogged!