Kai and I were walking at lunchtime on Reservoir Hill near work. At the top of the hill there’s a small fenced area that contains some old military construction, including two concrete troughs. With all the rain this winter, there have been a lot of polliwogs, so I stopped to see what there might be in the troughs. One trough had about eight inches of water, with a fair number of well-developed polliwogs. But the other was drying up into a mudhole, and there was a gelatinous mass of polliwogs gasping in one corner. I used my hands to scoop water from the full trough into the muddy one, and I think I managed to rescue a few dozen polliwogs. It was very warm yesterday, so Kai and I went back after work to see how the polliwogs were doing. The puddle I had created was much smaller, so I scooped more water into it. (I had remembered to bring a container with me this time, so it was easier.)If you look at the close-up photo carefully, you can see that several of the polliwogs are growing legs. You can also see little tan spheres. These spheres were in constant motion when there was enough water, and I think they’re some kind of eggs or larvae (insect? crustacean?) that the polliwogs can feed on.This may not have made much difference in the grand scheme, but maybe this spring there will be a few more frogs, meaning a few less mosquitos, and eventually some better-fed herons.