I have heard these little frogs for years in my part of the country. They are found in all parts of the world except Antarctica. I ran across them this past week by accident.
I was on my bike and a young female biker in full biking garb passed me on the path. I did a double take after seeing her fuzzy ears on her helmet. She made me smile.
I caught up to her on a swampy section of the path. There she was off her bike and waving her arms to signal me to stop.
“What’s wrong?”
The tree frogs are on the move.”
Looking down I perceived thousands of brown shapes, the size of dry beans, hopping towards the nearby woods. They were in a large block of small bodies. I would never noticed them without her pointing them out.
I asked,”How did you know?”
She replied, “I have seen them for several years about this time every summer.”
We watched as the small army hopped their way across the bike path and into the woods. They were so small, I would have run over hundreds if the biker had not pointed them out to me.
I thought of the grasshoppers and other creatures that I shared the path with. How many had I callously run over and never noticed?
Now I bike slower and Noticed changes around me. Nature is always on the move!
Tree frogs
Small and brown, they are moving specks of dust on the path.
Holding one in my hand. I see a miniature toad or frog.
The whole group moved as one from the swamp to the nearby trees.
Using their hooked back feet, they climbed the trees.
Many will become food for the birds and other animals.
Some were be run over in their quest to gain the safety of the trees.
Driven by instinct to survive.
They are driven to live to reproduce the next group of tree frogs.
carolaspot@aol.com June 12th at 2022
traveling up and down the blind highway 