Froggy Bottoms
It’s kind of, though not exactly, like those “magic-eye” scenes where images “pop” the closer you look.
In this real-world example, movement on the broad leaf has caught my eye. Very quickly, I see one dime-sized Pacific chorus frog. Soon, I see another an inch away. A different leaf has another, and yet another has six froglets! The little ones seem to be resting during this midday hour, taking in the warmth of the sun, meditating, likely catching some bugs that fly by. I keep looking. On yet another leaf, less unfolded, three frogs are snug in the tight area just above the stem. All of these individuals display many shades of green and yellow; a few appear completely golden.
This wetland near our home reverberates with frog chorus every spring for several months. In times past, it was just one in a complex series of freshwater ponds and wetlands throughout this valley, a narrow neck of land between two bodies of saltwater. For many years, after seasonal stormwater was diverted to enable the construction of homes and roads, this spot became a dumping ground for debris from transportation projects. Yet, the low spot still flooded. In the late 1990s, the city restored the area as a functioning wetland as well as a stormwater pond.
Froggy Bottoms now supports a vibrant wetland community of native plants (and some non-native ones too!), Pacific chorus frogs, red-winged blackbirds, and mallards. I have also occasionally seen great blue herons, northern shovelers, Canada geese, American wigeons, and cedar waxwings, among others. The wetland largely dries up in the summer, the vegetation tall and, in places, slumped over from the weight of its exuberance.
The many froglets, more every time I look at another plant, move little as I observe them. I think about how inspiring it is to witness wildlife species and ecosystems recovering from human meddling and abuse. If the threats are removed, then natural processes may continue much as they always have. The examples of this rejuvenation are many: wolves returning to landscapes where their songs rang for millennia; salmon returning to headwater streams once dams are removed; frogs and salamanders finding their way back to restored wetlands.
