First calls of the Spring Peepers and Wood Frogs heard in Stacy, MN

Chorus Frogs

Call of the chorus frog, like a thumb slowly strumming the teeth of a plastic comb, heard on the swamps.

Heard the first spring peepers and sandhill cranes yesterday. Peepers strident this evening as the first storm hits. Unusually warm&humid.

80's, humid, sunny. Counted six Grey Tree Frogs (one adult, five young) on the windowsills last night. Appears the pond has made a good breeding pool as they've been growing more numerous on the property every year.

Toads began trilling yesterday, joining the Green Frog and Gray Tree Frog in my pond and the Chorus Frogs and Peepers in the surrounding swamplands. Can hear several other Tree frogs not far off at night. Orioles have found our hummingbird and oriole feeders. Baby bluebirds heard in bluebird house; first family of the season. Tent caterpillars found building large "tents", and tearing the foliage from buckthorn.

Quite warm, temperatures in the mid 70's with lots of sun. Decent gardening weather!

This evening marks the first break in the clouds we've seen since Sunday of last week. So far the week has been unseasonably cold, with temperatures peaking in the 40's.

Still lots of Red-winged Blackbirds hanging around the feeder, though we've seen the first Baltimore Oriole of the year just today, and the Eastern Bluebirds seem to have set up house in one of the two boxes. Loon calls can be heard from the nearby lakes and ponds, while the Peepers' chorus is still strident.

Last Friday's snow had a horrible effect on the native grape vines we had growing on the trellis. They seem to be making a bit of a comeback, but only time will tell if we see any grape production this year.

Native flowers seem to be doing quite well. Columbine, Blue-flag Iris, Swamp Buttercup, and Meadowrue foliage continuing to flourish (though no flowers yet), Prairie Smoke just starting to pop, stems of Butterflyweed and Bergamot finally starting to pop up. Mohican Viburnum just about to go out of bloom.

The trill of the American Toad joined the chorus of Wood Frogs, Spring Peepers, and Chorus Frogs in this evening.

Heard the first loon this morning. Though temperatures pitched down into the 40s this weekend from the 60s earlier this week, the Wood Frogs have been noisier than ever. They call late into the night, and have a very distinct, "quack"-like call. As a child, I would hear Wood Frogs outside my bedroom window and think a flock of Mallard Ducks had landed on the pond.

Took a walk with the dog in Linwood Forest as the temperatures pitch into the upper 60's. Chorus and Wood Frogs were almost deafening. Snow is out even in the deepest parts of the forest, and off the smaller ponds, though it is still present on Typo Lake among other larger bodies of water in the area.

Plants Emerging:

• Columbine


• Prairie Smoke


• Goldenrod, Showy


• Goldenrod, Woodland

Wildlife Spotted this Week:

• Black-capped Chickadee


• Blue Jay


• Canadian Goose


• Crow, Common


• Dark-eyed Junco


• Goldfinch


• Grey Squirrel


• Loon


• Mallard Duck


• Mourning Dove


• Northern Cardinal


• Nuthatch


• Pileated Woodpecker


• Purple Finch


• Red-bellied Woodpecker


• Red-shouldered Hawk


• Red-winged Blackbird


• Robin, American


• Sandhill Crane


• Virginia Opossum

I've counted three Green Frogs in our pond. We'll have to be sure to nab them before the pond ices over to avoid their dying as the oxygen level drops (they must be used to deeper lakes). The current plan is to give as many away to local nature centers as possible, and to put the rest in an aquarium. No worries; they'll all be returned to the pond once Spring rolls around.

Speaking of wildlife that have issues overwintering. Then again, maybe the DNR (and whatever Canada has) take care of these 'fresh water whales' the way we take care of our pond frogs (only on a largeer scale), removing then when/if Superior freezes over and move them into the Duluth Aquarium.

Heard Our First Tree Frog in the Pond



Amazing what you can do with a little effort and a generous amount of serendipity. By connecting a 1/4" reducer to a pump output, I was able to create a spitter jet. By anchoring the jet under a bit of cement, and putting a nicely rounded stone in front of it, we were able to create a fine spray that not only aerates the water for the fish, but also looks absolutely awesome when combined with a blue light (pumps and lights together take up about as much collective energy as a ceiling fan).

Heard a single Tree Frog in the pond towards evening. Sounds like he might be using the aluminum siding to amp up his mating call. Though it's the first Gray Tree Frog we've ever heard in the pond, if his amped-up mating call is successful, it definitely won't be the last.

Wildlife Spotted this Week:

• Baltimore Oriole
• Black-capped Chickadee
• Cottontail Rabbit
• Eastern Chipmunk
• Goldfinch
• Gray Tree Frog
• Green Frog
• Junebug
• Mourning Dove
• Nuthatch
• Robin
• Ruby-throated Hummingbird

Native Plants in Bloom this Week:

• Canadian Anemone
• Columbine
• Harebell
• Rue Anemone
• Spiderwort
• Swamp Buttercup

Images from the Garden












Birds spotted:

• Baltimore Oriole
• Black-capped Chickadee
• Blue Jay
• Crow
• Eastern Bluebird (three chicks counted)
• Grackle
• Mourning dove
• Nuthatch
• Oriole
• Red-headed Woodpecker
• Ruby-throated Hummingbird

Other Wildlife Spotted:

• American Toad
• Chipmunk
• Green Frog
• Grey Squirrel
• Raccoon

Natives in bloom:

• Canadian Anemone
• Columbine
• False Indigo
• Harebell
• Prairie Ninebark
• Rue Anemone
• Swamp Buttercup

Non-natives in Bloom:

• Fuschia
• Tuberous Begonia

Things I should have considered when I originally built the pond:

• How to do it all with one piece of tarp
• Where all pumps, accessories, power cords, and hoses would go, and how they would be rigged and concealed.
• How I planned to hide the pond tarp (on the rebuild, I excavated a submerged shelf for boulders).
• How to better integrate it with the patio/deck/surrounding landscape
• The specific needs of wildlife that might be interested in it (frogs that require oxygen-rich water for hibernation)
• Learned more about fish. Turns out that, given the correct circumstances, you can add a number of fish to your pond, including minnows, guppies, and swordtails.

After what felt like a week of rain, clouds, and cold, Apollo's chariot made its appearance bright and early this morning. I couldn't have asked for a nicer day to end the weekend; clear skies, and temperatures hovering in the upper 60's! Took advantage of it to re-screed and lay as many bricks as our stash of concrete would allow.

I think I'm finally hitting my patio-laying stride, which is rather sad as I only have about 3 feet to go. Instead of just randomly placing the blocks I've worked them into what I think of as a 'Lake Superior' pattern, with brown as the lake and streams and red as the mainland and islands.

Found each form takes about 1 1/4 60 lb. bags of concrete, and about 1 can of color. Since I'm doing approximately half red and half brown, that means mixing the cement, color, and water in separate tubs, then transporting them from the tubs to the work site in small containers. Care has to be taken to pour the cement carefully (the colors look shoddy when mixed), and to make a red run and a brown run when leveling and smoothing the concrete, being careful to wash the trowel between each run.

The color washes pretty well out of decking, aluminum siding, and dried blocks, but not so much when it comes to clothing. This means that in addition to the cement ($2.35 a bag X 14), sand ($58 so far, though it turns out I bought more than I needed), the form/mold ($12) and the cement color mix ($4.50 X 6), I need to replace a pair of loafers ($20), pants ($25), a shirt ($20), and socks (depends on how you divide them I guess; $1?) which means this project is going to cost me a grand total of approx $208 by the time I'm done. That's not counting the time I've put into this project. I have no idea what to pay myself for manual labor.

Not bad when you compare it to paying professionals, or even the kid next door to have it done, but how's it compare to buying the patio blocks pre-made? The patio blocks I saw ranged from around $2 each to around $4, so let's average and say $3. At 7 blocks to a set that would make $21 a set. That would have made around $252 for the blocks, plus $58 (when you factor in that I'd still need to screed a 1" layer of sand, and, being a patio rookie, I'd still screw up and buy too much) which puts us at around $310. Looks like even with the red-splotched shoes and Dockers I saved. Just not by much.

In other news, yes Virginia there are still frogs in my pond. You'd think that with the average temp dropping below 50 some days (and below 40 some nights,) they'd start burrowing in the mud around the banks, but I counted at least six Green Frogs sunning themselves in the shallows this morning. Hope they're not getting two comfy, as the project I have to take on next weekend is going to involve draining the plastic pond and smashing it into small enough pieces to cram into the trash bin.

Seems that when I added on the second pond basin and the stream to connect the two basins with rubber liner I forgot to take into account the fact that the sun heats the plastic basin to the point where it expands and contracts on a daily basis. Alone, and in a bed of sand, you'd never notice this, but try to couple it with a non-conductive rubber liner and no among of sealant, self-expanding foam, or bolts will keep a watertight seal.

Which means you're going to have leaks.

Which means adding more water via a hose on a timer on a daily basis. Which not only flies in the face of water conservation, but costs money, and forces the filters and the fish to cope with a daily influx of the brown rust crap from our water table. While I'm not exactly giddy about the prospect of rebuilding the first basin, it will give me an opportunity to excavate a deeper stream for my goldfish. If they continue growing at this rate, they'll certainly need it.

Seems to have been a good year for native gardening; the Harebell's still blooming, the Pasqueflower is thick, and the stand of Swamp Milkweed flourishing by the driveway is almost as tall as I am. We've also got a transplant from Long Lake in Stillwater (I've included it to the left), some sort of rush-type plant with grass-like leaves and five balls of green spikes on each stalk.

Anyways, we're planning on a quiet evening and maybe a little archery practice here.