Another frog species!

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I don’t have photos, but: I am thrilled to announce that another frog species has moved onto my property!
I bought this house four years ago. At that time, the only frogs resident were Cope’s grey treefrogs. Now it’s four years later, and in that time, spring peepers, American toads, eastern narrowmouth toads, green treefrogs, and now green frogs have all decided they like it very much here. I began hearing the green frogs just the other night.
I don’t have a pond. I do have two stock tanks that sometimes house turtles during the summer. At this time they are vacant, but they’ve provided a safe spot for the treefrogs to breed and they now serve as tadpole hatcheries. I also have a tendency to leave old Rubbermaid containers, unused fish tanks and various receptacles just lying around; I am untidy by nature, I have minimal storage space and I often need a plastic tub or two as temporary turtle housing, so they never get put away. These collect water and are frequently used by the narrowmouth toads. I rarely see those toads, but I hear them in the summer and clearly their numbers are increasing. I’m assuming the green frogs are also making good use of those small containers. I was so excited to hear them calling…..it means I’m doing something right.
As available habitat shrinks, I’ve realized it doesn’t take much effort to create conditions that are beneficial to wild animals large and small. For instance, I have turtle pens built inside an old above-ground pool. Those pens are now full of young five-lined skinks; the mama skinks have discovered that the pool is a safe place to lay their eggs. I only mow a small area around the house and in the backyard; the rest is meadow & it’s full of birds and butterflies. I find more and more snake sheds that are clearly from young animals (there was a baby rat snake shed on my front porch today), so the snakes are thriving and reproducing. And in the fall and winter, migrating birds feast on the seeds of wild lettuce and goldenrod and some even spend the whole season by the house – last year a ruby-crowned kinglet spent most of his time in the dead pokeweed just outside my kitchen window.
Well, I hope I haven’t bored you! Have a good evening, everyone.