Frog and Toad Calling Survey
When I first met my partner (Bruce) I never imagined I would be spending some of my evenings driving around central and southeast Stearns County, stopping along road sides next to wetlands, and listening for frog and toad calls. It’s been four years since our first foray together volunteering for the Minnesota Frog and Toad Calling Survey, and each year I get excited when April rolls around. Not only is summer coming, but we start another season of listening for frog and toad calls.
Typically, a listening route has ten stops with different wetland environments. A route is traveled during 3 time periods from April to July. Each time period represents a breeding season for frogs and toads that breed early, mid-season, late-season. One of our routes includes several wetlands adjacent to agricultural fields and several stops near lakes with fairly high-density residential development. The other route includes wetlands near farm fields, residential developments, a scientific and natural area, and two lakes (one with some residential development, the other with almost no homeowners on the lake).
This year it seemed as if breeding populations of frogs and toads were down from past years. The number of frog and toad calls heard seemed to be less than what we had heard in prior years. We think it might be due to the cold weather in the spring and early summer. It will be interesting to review data from other volunteers to see if they noted a similar trend.
My partner, Bruce, who has been a volunteer for a much longer time than I, has developed a hypothesis regarding frog and toad populations. He feels that as development encroaches on wetlands, frogs like Spring Peepers become less common or disappear. Also, American Toads seem to like stormwater ponds. So, after a stormwater pond is constructed, one might expect to find American Toads moving in a short time later.
If you are interested in becoming a Minnesota Frog and Toad Calling Survey, please visit the website at www.dnr.state.mn.us/volunteering/frogtoad_survey/index.html.