As I load the 230, which is the herpetology department's monster truck of a field vehicle, I think back to last Monday, when I was out doing research at the marsh, and all the frogs were calling. I'm talking about Cricket Frogs, Cope's Grey Tree Frogs, Chorus Frogs, the Leopard Frogs were just starting to call, and most importantly Anaxyrus woodhousii, the Woodhouse's Toad!
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| The star for tonight! The one and only Anaxyrus woodhousii |
We've had a lot of water come in the past few weeks to fill the swamps and ponds where these species call and breed in. And now with the marshes full and the temps producing some warmer nights, these frogs are ready to party and try to find themselves a mate.
As I pull into the nature park, and turn off the ignition of the vehicle, I sit still for a moment, just to let the dark night air fill back into the area where my head lights used to blaze. It's a balmy 68 degree night, and the moon is shining through some fair weather cumulus clouds just above me. Before I even open the door, I can hear the faint chorus of my amphibian friends all around me. I load my pack, strap up my head lamp, and clip the truck keys to my waist with a carabiner.
As I open the door, the beauty of the night floods into whole vehicle! What at first appeared as one pugnacious blare of noise, soon turned into a complex medley of individual songs! I could pick out each species within! Acris blanchardii and Pseudacris maculata were keeping steady time as Hyla crysoselis, filled some harmonious transitions in the song, and our featured soloist tonight was Anaxyrus woodhousii! The Woodhouse's toad!
Check out the frog call video I made from the night's adventures! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5gRc7_0dRk
I wasted no time getting down to the swamp! This whole place was an over grown, over sized garden of aquatic vegetation! Every leaf was covered with the starting of dew, I was already soaked before I even got to the water. I dropped my shoes and pack and B-lined it toward a pair of waling Woodhouse's Toads. As I neared the two Anaxyri, their eye's shined back the white light of my head lamp, and I remembered just how easy it is to sneak in close to these frogs at night!
The Woodhouse's toad is usually a tan or grey-brown color with dark blotches and warts to give it a camo pattern to blend in with the ground cover. They are very similar to the American Toad, Anaxyrus americanus, but the Woodhouse's Toad has a narrower, more elongated, parotoid gland, which touches the posterior part of the cranial ridge. They eat insects and other arthropods, and their eggs are laid in one long strand instead of a clump of eggs like other frogs. The Woodhouse's call sounds like a nasally WAAAAAAAAAAAH! So now you can listen for it next May/June.
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| This Woodhouse's Toad is one from the lab. |
As I work my way down the bank, I spot a pair of huge eyes, and then I saw the huge body they belonged to! The Bullfrog! What a beast! sitting, in all his predatory might, on the swamp shore, just waiting for something he could fit in his mouth to wander by. Bullfrogs are an invasive species here in Nebraska. Bullfrogs were introduced to much of the West and Midwestern US via frog farmers, and they are commonly harvested for their tasty back legs. Bullfrogs are 7+ inches of lean, mean, frog eating machines! 80% of their diet consists of other frog species (Collins 2010). They are absolute tanks! and they sure do cause quite a problem for our native species! And while I'm all for progressive management of invasive species, I never take a life without a purpose, and since I'm not planning to eat this bullfrog, I reluctantly let him go.
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| This
Plains Leopard Frog is closely related to the Bullfrog in that they are both Lithobates genus, but the Leopard frog doesn't posse near as much predation threat around here as the Bullfrogs do. |
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As the night rolled on, the beat was grooving just as sweet as ever, and then I heard a heavy swish through the grass on the bank! I was not alone in the swamp tonight; something, or somebody, else was just 60 yards away, in the tall growth. I had never thought about other humans coming back here to this special access area. What could they be doing? drug dealers? love birds? burglars? The grasses shivered as the swamp intruder advanced towards me, and then he appeared! It was a masked bandit! I caught the glint of his eyes as the raccoon stood up, and I breathed a sigh of relief knowing I only had a raccoon to photograph rather than a potentially difficult human to deal with.
As I drift back to where I had left my shoes, I'm felt well satisfied with my findings for the night. But as I pick up my shoes and socks, I recognize one more species of frog out of the orchestra of calling. It was the Chorus frog. Admittedly, the Chorus Frog's call was the underlying heartbeat to the sweet song tonight, and every night, even during the day time too. Chorus Frogs are the first to start calling very early in the spring time, and they're more than likely the classic frog call you'll hear throughout spring until early summer. Their accelerating "Creee, creee, cree, cree, cree" call can even be heard far from water in a low land tree thicket.
As a boy, I used to fall asleep with my windows open at night, so I could listen to the frog calls as I went to sleep. It was a sweet reminder of what I'm so passionate about. Wildlife! And now as I visit swamps at night to conduct the research I dreamed about as a little boy, I can whole-heartedly say I'm living my dream! But there's a whole world of wildlife out there, and I'm just getting started.
I hope you'll enjoy my wild adventures all around the world too! Check Wildimpact's Facebook, Twitter, or G+ pages for more awesome adventures!
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