The Wood Frogs (Lithobates sylvaticus) have returned to my pond with their noisy, “Clack, clack, clack!” Incredible frogs that spend the early part of winter hunkered down in leaf litter, hibernating.

That leaf litter only gives these frogs minimal protection against the cold. They will spend much of their hibernation actually frozen. They don’t breathe, their heart does not beat, they don’t move. Frozen solid like a stone. Frozen all except for the frog’s blood which is protected by glucose which keeps the blood from reaching a frozen state.

They are not arriving at my pond now because it has been incredibly warm, but because right now is when they normally arrive, with weather warm, like now, or extremely cold. Even if the pond is nearly frozen over, they will seek the part that is still open water and dive in. Time for mating, and soon there will be a pond with eggs aplenty.