At first, I thought it was a cricket or some such critter, but as we approached, we saw that it was a tiny frog. It was stuck and could not get out. How it got in is anyone's guess, but it definitely wasn't getting out on its own. As we watched, it threw itself against the door repeatedly, and hopped to the end of the doorframe, seeing to escape.
But of course, it was stuck.
Elba and I shoed it out the door and it hopped away. Right into the corner of a sunken cement area in front of the door - a place that humans could climb out of using the small flight of stairs at the other end, but the wee frog would never be able to do this.
It was clear we HAD to save him! But how?
First up, we discussed whether it was safe or not. Here in Panama there are poisonous frogs - the famous Panamanian Golden Frog and its kin in the Poison Dart frog family. And they are small. But they are also colored brightly.
And they live in jungly areas. While there is a bit of jungle up the hill from us (from which we think he may have come), it is not exactly Golden Frog territory. In fact, they are only found in one isolated valley - El Valle de Anton - many miles from here.
So I wan't too worried.
I reached into my pocket and pulled out a Kleenex. ("Be Prepared" and all of that) Slowly, I bent down and tried to get him into my hand, but he hopped away frantically. I can't say I blame him - I would certainly be traumatized by his situation!
But I persisted and soon, I had the wee frog in my hand.
Gently, I put him down in the grass on the top of the wall. Then I turned to get my phone out to take a picture of him. But he had already scooted away. We looked and looked but we did not see him.
So there is no photo of "our" frog to accompany this story, but here's a photo of someone else's wee frog to give you a sense of the size. Tiny!
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