Two days in a row, Kieran and I went to chase bullfrogs in some cattle ponds in Briones Park, out beyond the Berkeley Hills. On the first day we went to a pond we’ve visited many times before. But on the second day we hiked a ways up the trail to a new, bigger pond we’ve never explored. Both days were fantastic — we waded right in (up to my neck in some places!) with various nets and pursued the frogs, who mostly laughed at us. But we did catch a few! We also discovered many other interesting denizens of the ponds, which you can read about in another post.
Even our scanty winter rain has draped the hills in green!
Using a pipette with a rubber bulb to sample the water.
Putting the water sample in a container.
On our first day we caught the biggest bullfrog we’ve ever seen.
Returning on the second day, we hiked to a different pond.
The second pond was much larger.
We used various sweep nets to capture all sorts of creatures, including tadpoles, insects, and scuds.
A medium sized frog from the second pond.
On the second day we caught (and released) four or five big frogs.
Steven E. F. Brown 