What hopefully is the last batch of toadppoles has hatched. Just before adding this post to the blog I checked on them and about half are free swimming. The rest will be out and about within a few hours.
After hatching they don't really do much. Swim a little but mostly stick to the rocks. I was reading about toadpoles just this morning and the article said their mouths don't open right away. For a day or two after hatching they sustained by their "yoke sac" and once their mouths open they will start to eat algae. Apparently they have a special "tooth" that is used to scrape algae from stones.
One thing in the favor of those born in batch II and III are their size. Being small they will be able to get to algae that their older cousins can't access. That may be their saving grace as there are a lot of mouths to feed and only the pond to provide the food.
I received the following comment/question in the previous post: How many tadpoles do you estimate there to be from the first batch? What percent actually have made it so far? Answering this question reminds me of the huge jar of jellybeans and you have to guess how many there are. My estimate of survivors from batch I would be about 150 to 250. They are spread out over all the ponds and some days they seem to be appreciating the sun and others they must be hiding so it's hard to guesstimate. The number that hatched from the eggs has to be over 1000... maybe over 1500. I've read that Mama Toad will lay in excess of 3000 eggs but I don't think I saw that many.
While checking the new toadpoles I spotted a bird I haven't seen in our yard before. A Downy Woodpecker was eating seeds from the sunflowers. A petite looking bird with nice black and white colors and she(?) did in fact look downy or some might say fluffy.
Joe didn't make an appearance this morning until well after sunrise. I had errands to run so wasn't home to observe what was going on in the pond. She did score a meal Tuesday morning so I wouldn't be surprised if she just wasn't that hungry. When I got home Joe was once again cooling her heels under the bridge which is her safe haven. At least I think that was Joe... it's kinda dark under there.
Still no sightings or sounds of the (adult) Woodhouse's Toads.
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