Of Pollywogs And Bagworms

Here's a couple of neat items I noticed while doing some of our nest box walks recently.

First is a photo of tadpoles, or pollywogs,  in our wet weather ponds. They're very small, probably less than 1/4 inch. This photo was taken in late March. When we walked by the ponds last weekend, in mid-April, we saw many small frogs hopping away as we approached.

I wasn't able to get a close look to identify them, but my guess is they are leopard frogs, which we've seen before at the ponds. Mary has also caught some tadpoles and raised them in here classroom into adult leopard frogs.

They have to mature quickly, because the ponds don't hold water for long. I'm fascinated by their life cycle which is so closely tied to rain events and the ponds temporarily having water. They come back every year, so it clearly works for them. We can usually hear the frogs croaking into the night.

I spotted this bagworm cocoon on a shrub along our dirt road. I'm not sure what species it is, but bagworms turn into moths.

I like the way the cocoon is constructed. It uses oak leaves arranged in overlapping layers, similar to roof shingles or perhaps scale armor. It's easy to read too much into this, but it might serve as a way to shed water away from the cocoon or as protection.