Night Songs

With the warm weather comes the opening of the windows in the Little Bayou House.  I would much rather have the fresh air wafting through the place than have it closed up tight with the air conditioning running.  I cannot breathe like that!  It is too stuffy! I want to feel the cooling Bay breezes, I want to hear the sounds, smell the smells and bring the Bayou inside.  I think the Bayou has agreed to my whims.

Each evening, my familiar serenade begins just outside the kitchen window.  The song of the tiny American Green Tree Frogs begins with a quiet chirp and rises to a deafening din.  Right outside the kitchen sits the frog pond.  This small pond started as a goldfish pond, transformed once into a toad pond and now finally has become a frog pond.  It all began with one pair of tree frogs and now there literally are thousands.  The frogs crawl about the trees, they hang on the water plants and inhabit the wisteria arbor.  I have never seen so many frogs!  Their mating songs start at dusk and carry on into the wee hours.  At times, the singing stops...dead.  It is then that I know some larger critter is in the area. Some potential predator is on the prowl so all the singing and merrymaking stops as the frogs try to blend in with the leaves.  They do this well.  It was hard for me to spy the little creatures when I was trying to photograph them.  I knew there were thousands near me but could only find a handful.  They are well camouflaged.

My kids are all home for the weekend.  This is the first time they have all been together in some time.  I think they are rather amused at the shrill concert that is being played nightly.  They are not used to hearing the night songs.  Their lives are different than that here on the Bayou.  It has been some time since Mark and Elizabeth have been exposed to the wonders of the Bayou.  American Green Tree Frogs and their night songs are now a source of amusement..one that I hear on a nightly basis.  Sounds of the Bayou..peaceful..serene.........loud.