Taddies

On the way back from the third of today's short hikes, we stopped at a lake at the summit to see if there were any tadpoles. We were in luck! We quickly scooped about a dozen out of the reedy shallows. We put them in a cup in one of the van's cup-holders and drive home slowly without any spills.

(Our tires are bald, so we need to drive slowly anyway.)

Tadpoles are usually a spring phenomenon, but at lakes high up on mountain passes, "spring," meaning warm water in the shallows, comes in July. The largest of these fellows are beginning to get hind legs. They are currently acclimatizing to our little pond. We have raised tadpoles successfully in the past, but Fiona was too young to really remember it so we figured it was time to do it again.

These will turn into western toads. We have a few gigantic western toads who show up occasionally in damp corners of our property. I think they may be some of our former tadpoles.