Hurricane Isabel brings unholy winds to Conn. and a rain of
frogs
Associated Press
Posted October 2 2003, 7:23 AM EDT
BERLIN, Conn. -- Hurricane Isabel brought unholy high winds and
lashing rain to the East Coast. It also dumped something almost
biblical on Connecticut.
Primo D'Agata was startled by what he thought was hail smacking on
his porch Sept. 19 as the remnants of Isabel moved through the
state. But when he went outside to investigate, D'Agata discovered
tiny, gelatinous eggs with dark spots in the middle.
It had apparently been raining frogs.
Since no frogs in Connecticut lay eggs this late in the year,
scientists and naturalists speculate they may have come up from
North Carolina or another warm location on the winds of
Isabel.
D'Agata brought a bowl of his mysterious find to a nearby nature
center, after the town's animal control officer couldn't identify
what had arrived in his yard.
Nicolas Diaz, a naturalist and teacher at New Britain Youth Museum
at Hungerford Park, took a look at D'Agata's bowl and told him it
looked like amphibian eggs.
D'Agata is keeping two small, water-filled glass jars of the eggs
to see if any of them will hatch. He said a few seem to have
sprouted what look like a tail.
``I'm going to let them sit and see what happens,'' D'Agata said
Wednesday.
