Bull Frog
Jack Schmidling Productions, Inc.
Marengo Illinois
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BULL FROG
While shooting the photos for last week's Duck Potato, I couldn't resist this guy who seemed quite interested in what was going on.
This picture also gives a good idea of the plague of Duck Weed I had last year.
If that wasn't enough, about the time I started getting control of the Duck Weed, We learned all about a new horror known as Water Meal (Wolffia sp).
This is the tiny stuff that can be seen around the Duck Weeds. They are about the size of cornmeal granules and pass right through any reasonable net. They are thought to be the world's smallest seed plant. I just gave up about that time.
BULLFROG vs. CATFISH
Rana catesbeiana
Our pond is primarily a frog pond. For ten years we put nothing into it big enough to eat even tadpoles. The only fish allowed were minnows to control mosquitoes.
A few years ago we decided that the frogs have had the good life for long enough and decided to experiment with a few catfish. These are basically bottom feeders so we figured we could have our cake and eat it (literally) too.
For the past 4 years we have been putting a dozen or so catfish into our pond every Spring and have never seen nor heard from them since.
Since that is, until the moment captured in this picture.
When Marilyn first spotted this activity, only the head of the 8" long catfish was in the bullfrog's mouth and we assumed he had bitten off a bit more than he could chew. I ran back to the house to get the camera and by the time I got back, it was clear that he knew exactly what he was doing. Where he put all I have no idea.
This may not be the whole story but it certainly explains what happened to some of the catfish.
jack@schmidling.com
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