Wood frogs (Rana sylvatica) are early breeders and get geared up after the snow leaves and their preferred breeding sites, vernal pools, are free of ice.  From a distance, the male wood frog call resembles the quacking of a duck. In the photo above, one can see the soft-balled size mass of eggs. As is the case here, the egg mass is usually anchored to some vegetation.  The individual eggs are the size of a small marble of clear jelly with the dark developing embryo inside.  As the spring season progresses the egg masses often take on a greenish hue as they are colonized by algae. The tadpoles escape to live and grow in the vernal pool before transitioning to adults to spend the rest of the year in the upland forest.

The vernal or springtime pool where the wood frogs are breeding was dug this past fall by a group of students in the Principles of Natural Resource Management course (Emily, Romulo, Julie and Rebecca).  They took an existing depression and expanded and deepened it to better hold water during the spring months.  And it worked! sometimes when you build it, they do come.