The Great Tadpole Commute

Ah, the British Columbia summer. Lots of fantastic diving and snorkelling in the freshwater canyons, rivers and lakes. Camping, BBQ's, wetsuits, paddle boards and of course, lots of photos. Its a great time of year to explore lesser known parts of BC, including a nice little lake towards the top of Vancouver Island, home to tens of thousands of tadpoles. 

At around 11am each day the tadpoles move from deeper water into the shallow, warmer water to feed, then around 4pm, they move back down. Its what we've been calling the daily tadpole commute. There are streams of them, like little dark highways weaving in and out of the colourful lily pads. It's incredible. I can hear a David Attenborough voice over talking about the "great migration".

Some of the tadpoles have little legs, some don't. Some are big and chubby, some are small. But they are all very, very cute! Snorkelling above them, just floating in the water looking down, you see the black highway of tadpoles beneath you, tens of thousands of the little guys on their way for lunch. Occasionally one will bump into your camera dome and their little mouth will try and see if it's edible. Each one has a little personality, like a character in a Pixar movie. If I could draw, they'd now be a children's book called Chadpole, telling the adventures of Chad, the tadpole, and his band of friends!

It's another great reminder that our precious freshwater resources also hold incredible marine habitats, extraordinary life cycles, and offer such great educational resources. It is a very fragile environment, and great care must be taken when observing, but it is such a unique and fascinating site to witness, one I wish others could see firsthand. ​