Cold and windy today with the occasional snow shower thrown in for effect. Spring has arrived in coastal Maine sort of. The daffodils along the stonewall by our driveway are in bloom and the crocuses are putting on quite a show. For most of us though the real sign of spring is peepers on a warm night. Give a listen at this link.
Peepers are not the only spring frogs to arrive in the vernal pools (wet places that hold pools of water in the spring) scattered throughout our woods. Not to mention the salamanders that gather like the frogs to 
mate and lay eggs in these pools. This picture is of some of the egg masses in the pool we pass each day on our walk I believe wood frogs. Peepers and other frogs will arrive very soon and eventually the toads.
Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry Bureau of Parks and Lands has a nice information sheet on some of our Maine frogs with links to their calls. Very fun stuff. Take a moment and check it out or even better take a few minutes and locate a vernal pool near you.
For many years I have included dipping for pond life on the Nature Exploration Canoe Trip not as many frog eggs in the ponds or the river but a lot of really interesting critters with some amazing life histories.
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