There was a frog in my shoe once. I didn't know and stuck my foot in there. The end result wasn't pleasent or anything I'm proud of lol. Frogs are cool but they kind of freak me out.
Ranger stuff - my spring (and early summer) measured by amphibians
On 06/24/2013 at 11:22 PM by Ranger1 See More From This User » |
It's been a while since I've done a ranger stuff blog.. I have lots of great stuff to blog about, and not a whole lot of time to do it. Story of my life...
After living here in the cottage for the past several months, I have noticed a couple of things with regards to the local amphibian population: 1) there is a ton of great habitat for them in my neighborhood, and 2) I can measure the spring based on who's making what racket when.
In April, frequently even before the ice and snow has all melted, the wood frogs thaw out and make their duck-like, clacking mating calls. They will still be looking for love when the spring peepers emerge and start deafening us with their heavenly sound. The wood frogs are just a tease, winter hasn't let go when they come out.
Spring doesn't really arrive until the peepers start in. Ask anyone in the northern part of North America where peepers live, and we'll all say the same thing: that racket is the true sound of spring. The peepers will still be calling when the gray tree frog adds his song to the mix, but the wood frogs will have moved on.
The gray tree frogs are also loud little buggers, and very well camouflaged. I have been trying to find one for the better part of a month. Tonight, I took the dog for a quick walk, and realized they weren't shutting up when I walked by like they usually do. Bandit and I walked down to the closest frog pond and did a little stealthy tracking by sound. Aha! Frog sighted, and not bashful, either! I quickly headed home, because for once I didn't have the damned camera with me! I dropped off Bandit, grabbed my camera and headed back, never expecting the frog to still be there. Not only was that one still in the same spot, but I found a couple of his rivals as well. Success! Sweet, sweet success! And the green frogs that have started calling in the last week were an added bonus.
The green frogs will continue to make their plucked-loose-banjo-string call well after the gray tree frogs have closed up shop for the year. They weren't quite as oblivious to my presence as the tree frogs...
At some point, the toads will start in. They have the sweetest trill, you'd never guess that beautiful sound could come from a toad. It's one of the few times they go back to the water, where they will lay their eggs in long skeins, as opposed to the frogs, who make a ball of eggs and surround it with jelly.
The salamanders have been out and about, too, but they're harder to track, as they don't spend their time serenading the females like the frogs and toads do.
So there you have it, the season according to frogs.
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