Bob's Frog Blog

Since spring seems to be in the air, seemed like a good time to call the frogs to attention.  So thanks to my good friend Bob Suchanek for allowing me to share his latest fine natural writing posted as he wrote it below.  Any formatting issues are my responsibility, but the words are all Bob's and the songs belong to the Frogs.  (The video below might make good background music to listen to while you read Bob's froggy tale.  Note that Bob was also responsible for the creation of the video and tunes played, as he had requested that the recording be made.  So call out to Bob when you need to find a frog, or at least read his latest Blog.)  

 

              Counting Frogs , By Bob Suchanek

 

Froggy went a-courtin', and he did ride, Uh-huh,
Froggy went a-courtin', and he did ride, Uh-huh….
 “Froggy Went a Courtin” –  Old Scottish Folk Song

 Surveying Frogs

 It's February and I'm already thinking about frogs and spring. My frog loving ways go back to 1996 when I signed up as a frog counter with the Minnesota Frog and Toad Citizen Survey (MFTCS).  I was able to stay with the survey for ten years, faithfully driving my assigned route after nightfall to ten preselected listening locations during three frog breeding periods each year.

 The survey was completed in 2017 and the final survey population results were generally positive for the locations sampled.  Interestingly, the yearly dates for the breeding periods, highly dependent on water temperature, were sometimes quite variable due to differences in air temperature and snowmelt timing.

 The frog survey was about which courting species were present at each time and location and how many of each species there were. Frogs are basically shy creatures, not easily herded and corralled for counting, so a simple population estimate was enough.

 The Courting Schedule

 Frogs begin their courting after the winter’s ice is gone and the water temperature is comfortable, at least 50 degrees Fahrenheit. There were three official survey periods each year:

 1)     Early spring, starting in April: minimum water temperatures of at least 50 degrees and air temperatures of at least 42 degrees Fahrenheit.

2)     Late spring, starting in May: minimum water temperatures of at least 60 degrees and air temperatures of at least 50 degrees Fahrenheit.

3)     Summer, starting in June: minimum water temperatures of at least 70 degrees and air temperatures of at least 55 degrees Fahrenheit.

 Keep in mind that frogs and toads don’t read blogs or adhere to survey instructions so if you’d like to listen to and/or count frogs take a walk by a wetland or pond when you can to see if anyone is calling. If you think it’s a nice time to be outside, they might too.

 There are 14 species of frogs and toads in Minnesota; fewer species are found regionally and locally. If you listen, you can learn to recognize your neighborhood amphibians and have a way of understanding the relative sizes of their local populations. By the way, toads are frogs. Of course not every frog is a toad.

 I've found that verbalizing what each call sounds like is a great memory device that also makes conversations about who's singing easier. Here are good “sounds like” phrases to help you recognize the singers in Minnesota's amphibian choirs with some rough assignments to the singers performance times (keep in mind that calling and breeding begins earlier in southern Minnesota, later in northern Minnesota):

 March through late April

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Wood Frog                           Sounds like a quacking duck.

Boreal Chorus Frog            Sounds like strumming the teeth of a comb repeatedly.

 

Early April through early May

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Spring Peeper                      Sounds like high pitched peeps.

Northern Leopard Frog     Sounds like low snores with grunts and squeaks.

  

Early May through late May

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Pickerel Frog                       Sounds like soft, low-pitched snores.

 

Early May through early June

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American Toad                   Sounds like 20-30 second high pitched musical trills.

 

Late May through early June

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Canadian Toad                   Sounds like 8 second musical trills.

Great Plains Toad             Sounds like 20-50 second pulsating mechanical trills.

 

Late May through late June

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Gray Treefrog                     Sounds like 1 second high pitched trills.

Cope's Gray Treefrog        Sounds like 1 second high pitched metallic trills.

Northern Cricket Frog       Sounds like clicking ball bearings.

 

Early June through early July

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Mink Frog                           Sounds like pulling a stick along a picket fence.

Green Frog                          Sounds like plucking an out of tune banjo.

Bullfrog                            Sounds like “jug-a rum” over and over.

 The Count

 After parking and turning off my car I let the frogs settle down and refocus before deciding who was out and about in the wetland. When the courting was fully underway again I made my population identifications and number estimates.

 Some nights were amazing! The enthusiastic calling of hundreds of courting male frogs could be almost deafening. This full chorus earned a count of  “3” for an excellent species performance. Sometimes a species was calling but I could assign only a “1” because I could easily pick out individual callers. I assigned a “2” if there were quite a good number of individuals, overlapping calls, and pauses.

 Your Own Backyard Survey

 Keeping track of frogs and toads in your neighborhood is a great way to seriously connect to the natural world. This can be done day or night; all you need is ears, a little frog song identification practice, and time now and then to count the frogs.

 Theories pass. The frog remains. –  French Biologist Jean Rostand

 Some Sources:

 Amphibians and Reptiles in Minnesota by John J. Moriarty and Carol D. Hall, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, 2014

 https://files.dnr.state.mn.us/volunteering/frogtoad_survey/Frog&toadsurvey.pdf

 http://files.dnr.state.mn.us/volunteering/frogtoad_survey/mftcs_results2015.pdf

There are online sites that offer free expertly recorded frog calls.  The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources site is focused on state amphibians: 

https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/reptiles_amphibians/frogs_toads/index.html

The most comprehensive call collection that I've found:

https://www.pwrc.usgs.gov/frogquiz/index.cfm?fuseaction=main.lookup .