I knew that this pond would become an ecosystem and I knew it would be used by frogs. As the saying goes, “Build it and they will come.” This saying could not be more true for our amphibian friends. Frogs are extremely sensitive, detecting minute changes in their environment through smell, which allows them to locate bodies of water from miles away. It’s truly remarkable. I knew that’s what would happen here because I’ve seen it happen many times before, but what I wasn’t expecting was for hundreds of frogs to invade. A pleasant surprise indeed.
Also, just so we’re all on the same page, toads are a sub-classification of frogs. A toad is simply a frog with specific characteristics (similar to how a tortoise is differentiated from a turtle). Meaning that all toads are frogs, but not all frogs are toads. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy the continuation of the Ecosystem Pond series. Much more to come very soon!
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Near the end of last summer, I built a giant ecosystem pond with the help of my friends at Aquascape. Here’s a quick recap of what’s happened since. I added a group of Common and Comet Goldfish, who enjoyed it for the remainder of the season. As winter set in, the pond was left to settle in for a few months. Eventually, spring arrived, and that’s when things truly began developing. The fish overwintered well, but it was hard to see them through the cloudy water. This was the result of mud runoff from the construction process, which also introduced excess nutrients, resulting in algae. I manually removed and pressure-washed what I could, but to start properly remediating the issue, I planted some grass on the right side. As the days warmed, many animals were encouraged to start using this environment as well. Green Frogs basked, deer enjoyed the ambiance, and more. A pair of Eastern Phoebe were hard at work building a nest over the new vantage point of the pond, hoping to proliferate. The same began happening in and around the waters as well. Spring rains encourage the frogs to migrate to the pond and sing their songs. First, a handful of male Spring Peepers were calling out, hoping to attract mates, with American Toads not far behind. Their calls were yet to be reciprocated. That said, the phoebes were successful and at work incubating a brood of little eggs, which is where we left off. Although valiant, their efforts were being challenged. Within the nest were four pristine eggs. Three looked very clean, while the other was covered in dirt. Not so. Both parents work together, incubating the eggs in shifts. There’s some idle time between, which gave a parasite free access to tamper with their nest. This egg here actually belongs to a completely different species: The Brown-Headed Cowbird. These are what’s considered a Brood Parasite. Rather than build their own nests, they instead lay in others. The host birds then raise the cowbirds as their own if they don’t recognize the eggs as foreign objects. However, it’s not that simple. Cowbirds usually hatch and develop faster, outcompeting the initial brood. For now, there was no telling what would happen here, but I did notice something else when reviewing the time-lapse footage. Did you catch that? It happened quickly, but if we slow things down, you’ll see exactly what occurred. That’s the female cowbird and it returned to the nest to give her baby an upper hand via less competition. Shortly after this robbery mom returned, completely unaware of what just occurred. I was absolutely shocked to see this, but something just below their nest caught my eye as well: a Ringneck Snake. These tiny snakes spend most of their time underground, so this was a pleasant surprise. It likely emerged from nearby leaf litter to bask. However, I didn’t want to leave it here because I was doing work in the area so I moved it to a safer location. Spring rains continued rolling through the lands. As the thunder subsided, the sounds of the frogs permeated the airwaves once more, and I swear the volume was turned up. I suppose with a few days under their belt, the peepers were at full strength. Even so, there didn’t appear to be any mates. The toads were calling out as well, and the competition was fierce. There are generally way more males than females so they are persistent through necessity. Any movement in the water could be a potential mate, so they’re quick to latch on. Even if that’s on each other, but a squeak lets them know to back off. However, all their hard work finally paid off because a female was in their midst. She was unimpressed with the ones around her, though, and escaped their radar underwater. It had to have happened as soon as she surfaced because before I realized it, a link-up or what’s known as amplexus occurred. I was hopeful the pair would be successful. Rains continued the following day, creating the perfect backdrop for the toads to continue doing their thing. The pair from before still hadn’t reproduced. Amplexus can last for a while, though, and perhaps the location wasn’t ideal. Luckily, the males are smaller, so it was easy for her to cart him around in search of a better location. As she did, the weather picked up, and this continued for a few days. These rains, which ushered in the frogs to begin with, caused things to cool off in the days to follow, and thus the symphony subsided. Only a single toad remained, eagerly waiting for it to start again. You’ll see that my efforts to minimize mud runoff were beginning to work, too. Despite days of rain, the water was actually pretty clear. Unfortunately, it was still too cold to feed the fish, but they certainly remembered what this means. What I was curious about, though, was whether or not the toads from the other day were successful. They must have been because a huge cluster of eggs was wrapped around the plants where I last saw them. That wasn’t all. I found a second cluster up in the waterfalls. So I’m ecstatic right now because the toads were successful. Right down here in the Intake Bay are I guess thousands of toad eggs all wrapped around these plants here. So these one should be good. Their only concern really is the fish, but I don’t really think they’ll bother with them. So I’ll leave those ones be. However, there was also a bunch of them up here in the Wetlands Filter. Right in the quite corner. My concern with this area, though, is that as the tadpoles makes their way out of there they could potentially wide up all the way over here, into the waterfalls, and who knows where. So I think what I would like to do, just to ensure their success is as high as possible, is to make a little dam around here just to kind of keep them secluded to this little area. So that’s exactly what I did. I created a little dam around the eggs to give them a better chance. It wasn’t pretty, but I knew this was something I’d have to get used to. I knew it would take time for them to hatch and develop into toadlets. Meanwhile, a different species took up residence down in the basin: Water Striders. These little predators effortlessly glide across the water’s surface, searching for prey. I’ve always found them to be extremely captivating and graceful. As I observed them skating back and forth, I heard something new. It happened a few times, and just as I discovered where it came from, it stopped. Up in the weeping cherry tree was a new frog in town: a Gray Treefrog. Its muted coloration camouflaged it perfectly on this branch. However, my presence must’ve made it bashful because it refused to call again, holding this position well into the evening. I had done very little around the pond until then. It drove me nuts, but I still wasn’t ready for much. My overall plan was to create usable recreation areas within designated pockets of plants and other features for the animals. That would take time to create, but I collected a few plants to begin moving in the right direction. However, this entire area was excavated beyond being usable for its intended purpose. I had to raise everything by about a foot to fix that. I couldn’t do it all at once because I worked by hand. In the meantime, I collected soil from areas with too much that I used to elevate the upper portion of the seating area. This platform specifically was designated for a swinging bench. I measured and excavated for that before setting the posts. A few weeks prior, I also seeded the lawn with dandelions. It was coming together, but my long-term plans for it would be much different than this. All the while, the deer passed through, and one of the phoebe watched from the fence. I also heard the tree frog again and found him in the most unexpected places: behind the old ledger board. This foreshadowed what was the most lively evening in the pond’s existence thus far. The night began as many before, with toads and peepers calling for mates. However, something was different. There were at least 50 male toads scattered around, which was significantly more than previous nights. Then, I saw her. This little lady was lured in, quickly making her way to the breeding grounds. She dove deep into the water, and the boys sensed here movement, but they just missed her. While attempting to track her down, I noticed something bizarre. A toad was latched onto a green frog, with another sitting nearby. Captivated by confusion, I completely missed this pair connecting. The peeper’s efforts finally paid off, as well. because a female was on the scene. That said, I never documented any matches. There did appear to be more peepers, though, many of which were scattered in the grass. There was a green frog among them too, which I imagine was hunting them down, but I can’t confirm with certainty. After making its way over to this rock, the gray tree frog began calling out too. When I went to get a closer look, I discovered someone I was not expecting to see: an American Bullfrog. It was quite young and likely migrated here sometime earlier because I hadn’t seen any others since the pond was built. Anyway, it was awesome to get a better look at the tree frog. Its camouflage is impeccable. Wouldn’t you agree that it looks just like a piece of lichen on the rock? There were well over 80 frogs in or around the water on this evening alone. In a way it was kind of serendipitous because this was final night of the toad’s breeding season. The pairs just had to finish reproducing the following day. The process takes a while because the female lays thousands of eggs that the male fertilizes, with as many as 20,000. This was the last of nine confirmed clutches, which means there were upwards of 180,000 eggs within the pond. The survival rate of frogs and toads that make it to adulthood to breed is estimated only to be around 1%. That’s not very many, even with a good starting point. This all happened over a few weeks, so despite these ones being less than a day old, the others were emerging as free-swimming tadpoles. Their long and challenging journey into toadhood was only just beginning. They weren’t the only hatchlings, though. While all of that unfolded, the phoebe were feverishly watching over their nest. You’ll see that they slowly rotate the eggs around the nest during the incubation process, which ensures the embryos develop properly. As expected, the cowbird was the first to emerge from the confines of its egg. The phoebe raised the bird as their own, unaware of what they were doing. The others started hatching days later, but by the time they did, the cowbird was already well-grown. These developed alongside it for the majority of its time in the nest, but the size discrepancy took a tool. Eventually, they were smothered out. The same would happen the third when it finally hatched. As the only remaining nestling with no competition, the cowbird grew even faster. When it gained enough strength to stand and observe its surroundings, instincts kicked in, and it flew away, leaving the phoebes with nothing but an empty nest. I knew this pond would become an ecosystem, but I didn’t expect it to happen so quickly. The waters became a safe space for hundreds of frogs to congregate and reproduce. The phoebe hoped for the same, but an opportunistic observer had different ideas. Thus, nature takes its course, but they’re story isn’t over yet. Even so, things were hardly beginning. I know you’ve heard some of my schemes thus far, but there’s so much more I have yet to expose. This only scratches the surface of how the pond’s been used by wildlife and what I’ve done to it. All in due time as this series continues to unfold SerpaSquad. See you next time.
42 Comments
As the saying goes, "Build it and they will come." I knew that’s what would happen, but I wasn’t expecting hundreds of frogs to arrive! The footage doesn’t quite illustrate just how many there were. Also, I couldn’t believe what happened with the phoebes! Nature sure can be brutal sometimes. Either way, I can't wait to show you what's next. There's still so much to unfold. Enjoy, and have a great weekend SerpaSquad!
I love frogs
I like how the parents of the eggs worked together so well
Was excellent good job!
Hope you checked the pH of the soil before planting ^^
Tanner Serpa….. The next David Attenborough 😊 loved this video
was not expecting the emotional baby bird saga, so sad but fascinating to see so close
I fear that the fish will eat all your tadpoles
European Borders be like
In their pond. Unbothered. Moisturized. Happy.
I had a cow bird in a nest around my house that laid its eggs in the other birds nest
SerpaDavid Attenborough. Excellent story telling.
This video was so captivating, it felt truly like a documentary. Thank you for sharing and keep up the great work.
It's amazing just how quickly the news spreads amongst the local frog and toad communities of a new pond location. They seem to have better word-of-mouth speed than even us humans! 😁 Also seeing the insect populations and variety already starting to increase is a fantastic sign! I bet in a year or two you'll have an absolute cornucopia of insects and amphibians and birds and all sorts!! This is why I absolutely adore ponds and gardens that allow their plant life to grow a little more wild than the "traditional" over-mown flat lawns. I think our modern way of doing gardens is a step backwards not forwards for both nature and us alike.
Nice video😊
What state is this in?
Wow, those cowbirds are real jerks!
(JK, I know it's nature and all… but still…)
FROG AND TOAD ORGY!!!
maybe im just super cringe but it seems like leaving the parasitic bird egg to mature whilst building a dam for the frog eggs sends two opposing messages
The frog army guy probably sent those frogs to your pond
I was inspired by your vid to fix up the old owners fountain! I had to use flex seal to seal up cracks and I think I missed one so every 3 or 4 days I fill it with 4 gallons. In the fall, I'll try and see if I can drain it to find the hole. All rocks and plants and logs were sourced from my yard that i then surrounded and put inside it. And I got a solar fountian and pump for like $9😂 only works with sun but hope to afford one eventually that has a battery pack. Hasnt been quite a month and I now have 2 frogs! Our natural drainage ponds (side of driveway, water drains in and fills up) dried up and same with our natural stream so they must've migrated over! Ive even seen my feral cats drinking from it 😂 love going out to see the weird water bugs and birds and the like chilling at it. The wasps even seem to mind me less now that they have a steady water source
Another gem Tanner, you’re an absolute professional and an artist.
i hate cuckoos
Sure are a lot of people here openly admitting they’d illegally disturb a nest because native brood parasites upset their human morals :/ I’m not even from the US and I know it is illegal to disturb native nesting birds under the MBTA. Tanner has the right viewpoint to remain an observer.
We need mandatory DNA tests for birds
Ik ur probably not going to see this but I’m 12 and I’ve been watching u for so long I’ve watched all of your videos and I love them so so so so much and your such a giant inspiration to me because I have a turtle and a fresh water beta fish because of you and I love reptiles and animals and I really wanna be like u when I’m older and I really want a tree frog but my top one is a white tree frog and I love all your video and u will never know how much you mean to me and my parents think what you do Is cool to because I showed you too them and all your tank and terrarium designs and I said I wanna make stuff like that and stuff and they thing it’s cool too I really want a crested gecko too I really hope u see this
So good ecosystem pond 😍
Can you make a video about how to make a tank fit for life only using native Maltese animals and plants please
So cool!
Can I have a few toads
You sound so stoned
Great stuff. Thanks for the video.
Either you install silt socks or stfu. Serious. Business.
Damn, cowbirds are assholes😂
what a sad ending😭😭
Aren't these giant flashlights in the pond light pollution?
serpadesign, you are the only youtuber to keep my attention. I love all your videos so much.
It really irks me as a birder when people who claim to love birds hate on brood parasites. It's nature, these birds are doing this to survive. It's not any worse than if a predator were to swoop in and snatch the babies. Cowbirds are as beautiful as any other bird. They have a beautiful song reminiscent of water and I love the contrast of the males brown head to their black body.
Toads are the one thing i do not alow in my pond. They will get yeeted the f out of there. Goldfish only.
Not sure why you protected toad eggs when you didn't protect phoebe eggs. And, the "invasion" into the "giant" pond stretched the truth far beyond what I'm comfortable with. Bye!
The thumbnail reminds me of the frogs from Mt. Myoboku
Add more goldfish