Wood frog
The “mask” under the eyes are a good spotting feature
The recording starts off with the pond in relative silence, just some individual peeps from the ubiquitous Spring Peeper. Then the Wood Frogs begin to call. There were dozens floating at the surface about 3-5 feet from the edge of the pond. Chorusing Wood Frogs are fun to watch as the males scoot across the surface like pinballs calling and investigating anything that is moving in the area!
Temps in the 50’s and a good amount of rain made Tuesday evening a great time to do some Frog Watch surveys. I chose 4 locations to visit that amounted to a big loop in the Southern survey locations.
Consistent rain brought out good numbers of Spotted salamanders, Spring Peepers, Wood Frogs and even an American Toad. The chorusing activity of Spring Peepers and Wood Frogs was just getting started. They were intermittent and any movement, traffic or out of place sound would quiet the pond. This type of sensitivity usually lessens as the season progresses. Pretty soon, only the ones in close proximity will go silent upon ones approach and the rest will keep the party going.
Spring Peeper making its way to the pond.
One of several peepers on Tuesday night.
Wood frogs are one of the first frogs to be calling in the early Spring.
Looks like a gravid female. The male Wood Frogs tend to show up at the ponds first, begin calling and then the females follow.
Wood frogs show a nice variety of colors and tones.
This Spotted Salamander just crossed the road on its way to the pond.
Toads are unmistakable as they make their way to the ponds. They hop or crawl instead of jumping like frogs.
The frog lights helped illuminate this little one!
Sadly he Vaughn location in the National Park was quiet during my visit. This was once a hot spot for Western Chorus frogs, as was nearby Red Lock. Not a single Chorus Frog was heard at either location. A pond North of Red Lock, not an official survey site, had a strong chorus of Spring Peepers and Wood frogs. Here is a “find the frog” shot from my iPhone. A bit pixelated as I had to use the zoom. Some of the big boys (and girls) hang out in the actual Red Lock structure.
Find the frog(s)
I came across some National Park employees studying the movements and traffic mortality rates along Riverview. Hopefully results will go to a solid plan of reducing the traffic at key migration routes. Good numbers of Peepers were calling at the Northern edge of the pond Station Road as well as the Southern pond. No wood frogs yet. Here is a good sized Green Frog I found leaving the parking lot. They will not be calling for a while.
I saw this one as I was leaving the Station Road site.
This site is new to me, and looks like a great spot for mid season to end of season frogs and toads. The pond is fairly open with not much cover as of yet. My observations show that a reduced number of early Spring frogs will call from a location like this vs a vernal pool. Time will tell. I spotted a Spring Peeper in the walkway, so thats a great sign!
I saw this little one on the walkway leading to the pond.
The promise of showers and temps in the 50s made tonight a great night to head out and see what is moving. I wasn’t disappointed! Around 8:00 some rain developed, and that was all that was needed to get things going.
I did some exploring along the tree line and saw some more Redback Salamanders.
Than as the ground became a bit more saturated, a Two Lined salamander made its way across the road.
Two Lined Salamander
Then the big boys came out!
These are Spotted Salamanders. They spend most of their time crawling around the leaf litter or burrowed underground.
To wrap things up, some Spring Peepers joined the migration!
Some pond predators and a glimpse of a fairy shrimp.
Last but not least, here’s a Green frog I found crossing the Parkway on the way home!
Green frog
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