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Frogs and gardens go together

Coming to a pond, stream or wetland near you, a chorus of cacaphonous amphibians sending out calls to the wild as the breeding season, meaning warm weather, is upon us. The reaction for most of us could be called, biophilia, or the love of life and living systems. These amazing sounds are mnemonics from nature letting us know that change is afoot. Who can’t be enthralled with the ear piercing refrains that begin in the early dusk hours and signal the beginning of spring? As gardeners, the sight of a toad or frog in the yard is a sign that a certain balance, lack of chemicals and organic matter are thriving.  Porous skinned amphibians are first responders to applied chemical agents and they have been called the “canaries in the global coalmine” as pollution, habitat loss, and climate change among other factors are wreaking havoc in the population. According to Frogwatch USA, a long range study begun by the National Wildlife Federation, world-wide 32% of all amphibians are facing extinction.

 

Closer to home, Shelly Grow, administrator for the Frogwatch USA volunteer survey, says, “It’s too soon to tell what is happening with populations at the local level based on our current data, however using mutiple sources of data, scientists have noted shifts in some frog ranges, such as the contraction of the northern cricket frog.”

 

For the past eleven years, I’ve been recording the first day the spring peepers begin their song in my area. This year it was March 8 although in 1998 it was as early at February 20. I recently signed up as a Frogwatch volunteer on the website, and named the location near my home, Peeper Palace. Through the excellent tools on the Frogwatch website, it’s possible to distinguish the calls between and a wood frog , spring peeper and a bullfrog.

 

Photo Credit:  Paul Crump - Female Spring Peeper