The Amazing Frog Adventure On An Already Special Day

I don’t get a lot of alone time with my brother, since we live in different parts of the country, so this was a special day.  Typically, we were late in getting started.  In the passenger seat of his F250, boat on trailer in tow, I sat waiting for him to fill the tank at the local Hess station so we could begin our boating adventure.  It was a beautiful November afternoon in northwest Florida, getting warmer as we waited, the Louisiana Catahoula and I.  Being the only occupant with an opposable thumb, or any thumbs at all, I opened the door to let in the lovely cool breeze.

Within seconds, something flew through the door, landing with a wet-sounding “kersplat” on the overflowing console.  It was a tiny tree frog, appearing from who knows where, presumably there for a short visit.  Before he could hop about and get lost in the contents of the truck’s cab, I scooped him into my palm and he immediately did what all creatures do when they are in fear.  I held tight and flicked his nervous contribution on the floor.

The frog rode in my clasped hands, head and sticky toes peeking through my finger gaps, looking for freedom.  He was determined to find a way out of the confinement and somehow squeezed and flattened himself between my locked thumbs, jumping with another splat back on the console.  This time I retrieved and held him closer, determined to get him to a nice place to call his new home.

Once at the dock by the lake, while my brother readied the boat for a launch, I released my little frog friend and the dog ran around getting more excited by the minute about the upcoming boat ride.  I let the frog loose on the far side of the two rows of cypress trees that flank the shore of the lake, statuesque and full of knobby knees.  He sat in the grass then hopped tentatively at first but  I was sure he would find his new home appealing.  He wore a little bit of fuzz from my fleece but I didn’t disturb him to try to remove it.

Happy Louisiana Catahula

blue heron in tall grass

cypress knees

water lilies

great blue heron

great white heron

I helped launch the boat; the dog boarded happily.  We had a wonderful adventure for the next several hours, roving through a chain of lakes and exploring the shorelines.  We saw a red-tailed hawk, several blue herons, great white herons, a flock of ibis, snowy egrets and my favorite, the sandhill cranes.  We also saw fish and turtles, flowering lilies, beautiful moss-draped cypress trees and waterways that seemed to go on forever.

sandhill crane

sandhill crane

sandhill cranes

The most exotic bird we saw was a purple gallinule, who was fearless and seemed to be protecting something in the reeds behind him.  He marched back and forth across the water plants, like a soldier guarding his fortress.  His iridescent purples and blues and candy corn beak were something to behold

purple gallinule

cypress trees at the shore 

Three hours later, after picking up my sweet fun-loving niece at another shoreline, we returned to the boat launch, but pulled to the shore adjacent to the dock, in front of the cypress trees and about 25 feet from where I released my frog friend.  As my niece stepped off the boat into the shallow water at the shore, she saw my little frog friend, still with his piece of lint from my fleece shirt, sitting in the sand just at the water’s edge, as if waiting for our return.  We couldn’t believe our timing and our good luck to have encountered him again.

turtle enjoying the sun

How is it that one little frog visited us twice, choosing his location and timing it carefully, making us smile and causing us to wonder how he found us?  First at the Hess station and then after hopping through that grove of cypress and positioning himself in the exact place where we returned some hours later.  

blue heron flying in front of a house

I’ve always had a thing with animals and especially frogs.  This is just one more example of the little miracles that occur when you stop to notice them.

We placed the frog on a cypress tree, still with his little piece of lint clinging to his side, hopeful that he would find others of his kind in the shade of the beautiful mossy trees, along the shore of the lake in Citrus County, Florida.  What a special day.

frog friend on cypress