Playing A Waiting Game

Six Word Photo Story: Freestyle

Will You Just Leave Me Alone!

I had to be patient to get this picture. I didn’t expect to see a frog just yet as it has been so cold recently, with snow forecast in our area this week.

It’s usually around the 20 February that frogs return to my pond, so I wanted to get it ready for them by removing debris and weeds, especially rogue grasses and buttercups that have infiltrated the pond.

Although giving a profusion of yellow flowers throughout summer, buttercups need to be thinned as their dense root system clogs up the pond, strangling any aquatic plants in the process.

After about ten minutes of my activity, up popped this frog in the centre of the pond and gave me a hard stare, as if to say — What do you think you are playing at? Some of us are still trying to hibernate. Now clear off!

So I did. Returning with my camera, but he’d gone. I can wait. So can frogs.

They are able to hold their breath for up seven hours under water. One of the reasons frogs can stay underwater for so long without needing to surface for air, is they absorb dissolved oxygen through their skin, a practice known as cutaneous breathing.

Not wanting to wait seven hours, I began removing more buttercups, which had the desired effect and I was able to shoot him as he surfaced.

They are beginning to return, and maybe next week I may have a full contingent of frogs in my pond.

I checked the bucket and he hasn’t yet returned. But I’m hopeful. For more information about the The Frog Who Lived In A Bucket, see the story below.

Thanks go to Mary Chang Story Writer for providing the Six Word Photo Story Challenges.