Where Did My Bullfrogs Come From?

Two years ago I put in a natural swimming pool (no chlorine or chemicals, the water is filtered through plant uptake of nuturients, a filter media, and ultraviolet light). Almost immediately we had quite a collection of small frogs, which is understandable since we live on a 5 acre wooded site and peepers, tree frogs, cricket frogs, etc. are naturally abundant.

We now have two resident bullfrogs. Not only have I heard them, but I’ve seen them both (they’re hard to miss). Where did they come from? The nearest body of water is a sizeable pond about .5 miles from my house. There’s a stream several hundred yards from my house, but is only intermittent and not perennial. Absent spontaneous generation, did these bullfrogs migrate from the other pond? How did they find mine? The sound of running water? Google map?

Probably from birds dropping eggs from their mouth. We have had discussion here about how often this happens which I find odd because in my home state of Louisiana, you can dig any old pond sized hole in the ground and it will have fish, frogs, assorted tadpoles, and maybe even crawfish and turtles in it in 1 - 2 years. Almost all pondish places deep in the woods have life in them and this isn’t restricted to the South. Even mountain ponds and lakes eventually have life swarming in them.

Frogs do travel across land. They search out new bodies of water , food, and mates. They don’t have problems unless the land is completely dry. Consider that they do travel on rainy days, if you think the land is a bit to harsh to traverse.