Reader Richard L. sent us the above picture recently of some strange looking floats in Mountain Lake. They have what look like antenna on top, and Richard wondered what they were for.
We sent him in the direction of the Presidio Trust, who has been heading up the remediation and restoration of Mountain Lake. Their response cleared up the mystery:
Those are predatory exclusion cages containing soon to be release pacific chorus frog tadpoles ( the reintroduction of an extirpated species). The wires on top are to prevent birds from sitting on them.
Richard also sent us the soundtrack of the Pacific Chorus Frog (also known as the Pacific Treefrog) which you can listen to below. Residents near the lake will have a new sound to get used to 🙂
The Presidio Trust also recently introduced the first native species back into the lake – several hundred three-spine stickleback fish.
Thanks, Richard for solving the mystery!
Sarah B.
And here I thought they were micro-barges from Google….
those wires also prevents humans from sitting on them…just FYI
Very cool! Love the frog chorus. Thanks for the updates.
It will be nice to visit the park in the evening and listen to those frogs- a little bit of country here in the city
@ mark t
“those wires also prevents humans from sitting on them…just FYI”
Don’t forget tree faeries and gnomes!