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Become a FrogWatch USA Volunteer: Listen to your Local Frogs

Sunday, March 11th, 2012

In the U.S., frogs and toads are beginning to wake up from their winter hibernation and soon we’ll be hearing the calls of spring as the amphibian breeding season begins. This a great time to become a Frog Watch USA volunteer, where you will make a commitment to monitor a local site for 3 minutes at least twice a week throughout the breeding season.

You don’t have to be an expert to become a volunteer, but you might find it helpful to attend a Frog Watch training session hosted by zoos, aquariums, and conservation organizations nationwide. Here’s a list of the upcoming training sessions:

Connecticut
Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History
March 16, 2012; 6:00-8:00 pm
March 20, 2012; 6:00-8:00 pm

Florida
Brevard Zoo
April 11, 2012; 4:30-8:30 pm
April 14, 2012; 4:30-8:30 pm
May 23, 2012; 4:30-8:30 pm
June 20, 2012; 4:30-8:30 pm
July 25, 2012; 4:30-8:30 pm
August 22, 2012; 4:30-8:30 pm
August 25, 2012; 4:30-8:30 pm

Santa Fe College Teaching Zoo, Gainesville, FL
March 17, 2012

Tampa’s Lowry Park Zoo
April 5, 2012; 6:30-8:30 pm (volunteer training)
May 3, 2012; 6:30-8:30 pm (call identification and certification)
June 7, 2012; 6:30-8:30 pm (volunteer training)
July 5, 2012; 6:30-8:30 pm (call identification and certification)
August 2, 2012; 6:30-8:30 pm (end-of-season wrap up/pot luck)

Indiana
Fort Wayne Children’s Zoo
March 13, 2012; 5:30-9:30 pm
March 17, 2012; 1:00-5:30 pm

Monroe County Parks and Rec
March 22, 2012; 6:00-9:00 pm

Michigan
Detroit Zoo
March 11, 2012; 1:00-4:00 pm
March 18, 2012; 1:00-4:00 pm

Missouri
Saint Louis Zoo
March 24, 2012; 10:00 am-12:30 pm
March 28, 2012; 7:00-9:00 pm (certification)

New Jersey
Jenkinson’s Aquarium
March 21, 2012; 6:00-8:00 pm

Rhode Island
Roger Williams Park Zoo
March 24, 2012; 10:00am-12:00 pm
April 12, 2012; 6:00-8:00 pm

Tennessee
Chatanooga Zoo
March 31, 2012

Utah
Utah’s Hogle Zoo
March 17, 2012; 2:00-4:00pm

Virginia
Virginia Zoo, March 18, 2012; 5:00pm

At a recent training session at the Lynchburg (VA) Public Library, for example, volunteers listened to the calls and then tried to connect them to a recognizable sound. Here’s one of the frog calls these volunteers tried to identify. Does the call of this Pickerel frog sound to you like a squeaky door – or like a snore?

More information:

The FrogWatch site includes a Frogs and Toads by State list and a link to the U.S. Geological Survey Frog Quiz of frog calls.

Tags: Brevard Zoo frogs, Chattanooga Zoo frogs, Detroit Zoo frogs, Fort Wayne Children's Zoo frogs, frog and toad calls, frogs and toad breeding season, FrogWatch USA, FrogWatch volunteer, helping local frogs and toads, identifying frog calls, identifying toad calls, Jenkinson's Aquarium frogs, learning about frogs and toads, life cycle frogs and toads, Lowry Park Zoo frogs, Monroe County Parks and Rec frogs, Roger Williams Park Zoo frogs, Saint Louis Zoo frogs, Santa Fe Teaching Zoo frogs, Utah's Hogle Zoo frogs, Virginia Zoo frogs, Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History frogs
Posted in Amphbian research, Frog Conservation, Learn about Frogs, Life Cycle of Frogs, People Helping Frogs and Toads, Uncategorized, frog calls | No Comments »

Leap Day the Frog Way

Tuesday, February 28th, 2012

We’re happy to feature this guest post by Meghan Bartels from the Panama Amphibian Rescue and Conservation Project in celebration of leaping frogs. Don’t miss the wonderful song below by Alex Culbreth.

The real purpose of leap day may be to keep the calendar aligned with the seasons, but here at the Panama Amphibian Conservation and Rescue Project, we’d like to believe the day is designed to honor our favorite leapers. To celebrate, we’ve put together some fun facts about frog leaping.

Frog Leaping courtesy Brian Gratwicke & Panama Amphibian Rescue and Conservation Project

Not all frogs can leap, or even hop. The desert rain frog (Breviceps macrops) has legs that are too short to hop. Instead, it walks.
Male frogs of the genus Pipa are known to defend their territory by jumping at and then wrestling other males.
The New Guinea bush frog (Asterophrys turpicola) takes jump attacks one step further: before it jumps at a strange frog, it inflates itself and shows off its blue tongue.
Stumpffia tridactyla are normally slow-moving critters, but when they’re startled they can abruptly jump up to 8 inches. That doesn’t sound very far, but these little guys are less than half an inch long!
The Fuji tree frog (Platymantis vitiensis) may be the leaping stuntman of the frog world. Each time it leaps, it twists in the air—sometimes even 180 degrees—to throw predators off its trail.
The Larut torrent frog (Amolops larutensis) gets its name from a nifty leaping trick: it can jump into a fast-moving stream and back to its usual perch, the underside of a rock, without being affected by the current.
Similarly, the parachuting red-eyed leaf frog (Agalychnis saltator) gets its name because it speeds to mating opportunities by jumping from trees with finger-and toe-webbing spread wide.
The record for longest jump by an American bullfrog (Rana catesbeiana) recorded in a scientific paper is a little over 4 feet. But scientists who went to the Calaveras County Fair, which Mark Twain’s short story made famous for frog jumping, found that more than half the competitors bested that record—and one jumped more than 7 feet in one leap!
The Guinness Book of World Records doesn’t include any frogs for their leaping ability. But it does track human performance in frog jumping (jumping while holding one’s toes). There are records listed for the longest frog jump and the fastest frog jumping over 10 and 100 meters.

In honor of leap day celebrations being coordinated globally by Amphibian Ark, the Panama Amphibian Rescue and Conservation Project made this video for a frog song written by Alex Culbreth.

Tags: Agalychnis saltator, Alex Culbreth frog song, american bullfrog leap, Amphibian Ark, Asterophrys turpicola, Breviceps macrops, desert rain frog, facts about frogs, frog has blue tongue, frog jumping facts, frog leaping facts, fuji tree frog, how far can a frog jump, Leap Day, leap day celebrations frogs, leap day frogs, leap frog, leapping frogs, longest frog jump, Meghan Bartels, new guinea bush frog, Panama Amphibian Rescue and Conservation Project, parachuting red-eyed leaf frog, pipa frog, Platymantis vitiensis, Rana catesbeiana, some frogs wrestle, Stumpffia tridactyla
Posted in Amphibian research, Frog Conservation, Frog fun, Frogs and the Rainforest, Leap Day, Learn about Frogs, Meet the Frogs, Rainforest Frogs, Teaching Kids about Frogs, frogs as bioindicators | No Comments »