Croaking and Snoring Into Spring

CROAKING AND SNORING INTO SPRING

Wednesday, April 04, 2007 (Napanee Beaver)

Friday, April 06, 2007 (Picton Gazette)

I came upon an Internet website the other day which focussed on movie nitpicks from people who would appear to have far too much time on their hands. To me, the storyline in a movie is what counts, and most of us in the real world don’t really notice if one of the characters is wearing a watch in one scene, and without it in the next scene 10 seconds later.

However, as a naturalist, I must confess that I do keep my ears tuned to the movie sound tracks in an effort to identify any wildlife calling in the background. For the most part, I do not nitpick these, although I do recall one memorable Japanese movie I watched in which the sound track dubbed in the background was from the recording, “A Day In Algonquin Park.”

The movie Deliverance from some 30 years ago, set in the backwoods of Georgia, had such a gripping storyline that few people likely paid much attention to the sound track. In between scenes of Burt Reynold’s prowess with a hunting bow and Ronny Cox’s guitar pickin’ of Duelling Banjos, I can’t help but wonder though if anyone heard the Fowler’s toads when the river paddlers were camping. I did. In fact, the screaming nasal bleat in the stillness of the night seemed to add to the tense atmosphere of the movie.

Of course, we don’t have Fowler’s toads in the Quinte area; they are more common, even abundant, along the Atlantic coastal areas and south, but less common inland. However, for whatever reason, there is an isolated population along the northern shore of Lake Erie, and is the only part of Canada where they do occur.

Vivid images of Deliverance flashed through my mind again when I played the Fowler’s toad song at a training session in Belleville early last month for the Community Wildlife Monitoring Program. The training tape included all 14 Ontario frogs and toads, although eight species are all we have here in the Quinte area..

Some frogs are calling now, only two weeks after the entire Quinte area was covered in snow and ice. The first to venture out in the spring are the wood frogs and chorus frogs, but spring peepers are not far behind. If you live near a marsh, as we do, few can claim to not hear them. How anything so small – barely as large as the end of your little finger, can make a noise that loud is a mystery . The cacophony can actually do damage to one’s ears, but from a distance – a great distance, mind you – they actually sound like chorus of tiny sleigh bells.

There is such a variety of instrumentation out there in the frog chorale it actually becomes quite easy to identify them by voice alone. We all know the rattling snore of the leopard frog and they are no stranger to any of us, appearing everywhere, even on our lawns at certain times of the year, and so plentiful sometimes they actually become a hazzard on highways as hundreds of them hopping from one side of the road to the other become victims of traffic, creating a slimy and dangerous surface upon which to drive. Why they cross the highways in such numbers is probably nothing more than the explanation for the proverbial chicken – to get to the other side.

Very soon we will hear another frog, the “bong” note of the green frog. But we will have to wait awhile before we hear the bass chorus of the bullfrog. There is another that comes still later – the grey tree frog. First timers hearing this sound are almost certain they have stumbled upon a mysterious bird of some sort, or perhaps a raccoon, as the sounds are similar. Often they appear to originate from trees, and likely they do, as this species’ feet have been thoughtfully provided with tiny suction cups which enable them to stick to just about anything. The long, wavering trill of the toad will be on the scene too before we know it.

One frog we don’t hear around here is the mink frog. This is the reason I enjoy visiting Algonquin Provincial Park when I can as they are quite numerous back there. But they do range farther south, and I have heard them on rare occasions at Madoc, and others claim to have heard them even farther south. Books describe the sound as “cut-cut-cut-cut,” but to me it sounds more like someone repeatedly knocking two sticks of wood together.

The frogs are out, and more will appear as the weather warms. Enjoy them while you can as they will become silent as summer draws near.