Bronze Beauty

After dinner this evening, I went out to refill the hummingbird feeder that's situated by the goldfish pond. Sitting right next to me, sunning atop a rock at the water's edge, was a very lovely frog. Her skin was glistening like gold! I'd never seen such a metallic colored frog glittering in the sunshine like she was.

The camera was retrieved, and there she still sat all aglow. I took several shots without the flash so as not to disturb the glowing beauty. As I switched the camera settings for a final land shot, I forgot to turn the flash off and my photographic subject took a dive...sploching into the pond. But...she still was game for a longer photo shoot, coyly poking her head above the surface and gazing up with shining eyes.

Even though this last photograph is a little blurry, it's my favorite, as it is a full face smile :)

After consulting our reptile and amphibian field guide, I found our "golden frog" was really a bronze frog, a color variation of the common green frog. Ordinarily, this color morph in the species is not found so far north, instead ranging in more southern latitudes from North Carolina on down to Florida, but, as my wise husband commented, "Global warming is changing the map for everything!" Perhaps it is indeed the reason for the presence of this small wonder...but I guess it is may be one of the few perks of climate change to have such a gorgeous summertime visitor.