I thought that the recent cold snap would have spelled the end for activity at my pond, but apparently not, probably because the water remains a constant temperature all year long.
This frog is called a green frog; I wish I was joking. Specifically, this is the Northern Green Frog, Lithobates clamitans melanota. Nearly all of the frogs that live in my pond are this subspecies, though they vary wildly in colour from bright green (as pictured, though I've found even brighter specimens in the past) to dark green and even brown.
I actually took this photo first - I wanted to have something in the event that I couldn't get close enough to take the picture you saw first. My long-range zoom lens is still on back order, so I'm stuck using the same 18-55mm lens that I use for almost everything. Luckily, this frog proved not to be quite so skittish.
It did eventually jump in, though not very far, and didn't swim away, so I was able to get two more good pictures.
After I took this picture, I put my camera away, since I had work to do. When I returned (I was working near the pond), the frog crawled back out and on to the rock it was sitting on when I found it. Maybe, given how dry it's been, the frog didn't care about my presence at all, but just needed to briefly moisturise.
Today is Frogiday, tomorrow is Caturday, just to let everyone know.
