Category Archives: Frog Activities

Travels around Arkansas and our part of the country to see and hear frogs and toads and people celebrating them.

Save Land and Save Frogs with the Northwest Arkansas Land Trust

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by Sim Barrow

It is just after sunset as I make my way through the dense grass and shallow pools at Wilson Springs Preserve in Fayetteville, Arkansas.  The thunderstorms from earlier in the day have subsided, and the horizon glows with the remaining light of the day.  With clipboard and pencil in hand, I stop at the edge of an embankment and wait. After a few minutes, the relative quiet is interrupted by a chorus of leopard frogs, American toads and spring peepers.  These are the sounds that drew me to the site, and are the reason for my evening visit to the Preserve.

Frog and toad activity at Wilson Springs Preserve is no small matter for the Northwest Arkansas Land Trust. Protecting wildlife habitat is one of our highest priorities in our work to conserve the natural landscapes of our region.  Whether through conservation easements or by receiving land as a donation, we ensure that those lands will continue to serve as a place for wildlife forever, even as the human population grows.

Of course, seeing the land preserved is just the beginning. With each conserved property we commit to the ongoing stewardship of the land, which includes biomonitoring, or the tracking of native plant and animal species like frogs and toads. The information we gain from biomonitoring is used to inform land management practices like restoration activities and invasive plant removal. It also serves as an indicator of the overall health of the habitat. Because frogs and toads are such great indicator species, it makes sense for the land trust to specifically monitor for them.

For this reason, we are excited to integrate the FrogWatch USA frog monitoring program into our biomonitoring plan.  Citizen-science programs are an excellent way to engage with the community and help people enjoy and appreciate the outdoors. It is also a helpful resource for nonprofits like the Northwest Arkansas Land Trust that have limited staff capacity.  We look forward to recruiting and training new FrogWatch volunteers in 2017 to help us monitor frogs and toads on some of our properties.  It’s also a great opportunity for current volunteers to explore new areas and support local conservation efforts.

Join me and the other NWA Chapter Coordinators this February 25 from 1pm-6pm for the first FrogWatch training workshop of the year. The workshop will be held at the Historic Ozark Mountain Smokehouse (1725 Smokehouse Trail Fayetteville, AR 72701). There will be a special trip to our Wilson Springs Preserve following the workshop, where we will practice the skills taught in the training. We may even hear crawfish frogs making their characteristic “snoring” sound! Contact [email protected] to register for the training.

With your help, we can all protect habitat for frogs and toads in Northwest Arkansas. Thank you, volunteers, for your commitment to frog and toad conservation!

Frog Card Deck - Pocket Guide

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Have you ever been hiking in the woods and come across a frog or toad and wondered what kind it was?  Then this Arkansas Frogs and Toads - Frog Card Deck is for you.  There are full color images of all the frogs and toads on these laminated 2 7/8″ by 4″ cards with full descriptions on the backs.

You can obtain your Frog Card Deck for a donation of $10 which includes shipping by clicking the button below.




Frogs in Winter

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Frogs in winter can be challenged

Ever wonder where the frogs and toads go in the winter?  They are “ectothermic” or cold-blooded animals that depend on the environment to maintain their body temperature.  So where do they hide to avoid being frozen solid in a place like this?

The answer depends on which species you are talking about.  And before we can address that, we need to describe what’s available in the winter environment.

Three choices for a winter home

There is water.  Water would do frogs absolutely no good if it froze solid, but water has the unusual property that ice floats on the surface.  It is less dense than the water it is floating on.  In fact, water becomes more dense as it cools down to 39.16° F.  Then it become less dense the colder it gets until it freezes at 32°.  That means that the temperature of the water at the bottom of a lake or pond will be 39.16° F because the most dense water will sink to that level.

There is earth.  The earth can become cold and freeze during cold weather, but only on the surface down to the frost line.  You see, the earth is a huge heat sink that is not easily frozen.  Below the frost line, the earth stays at a constant temperature - usually in the high 50° F range.

There is debris.  The forest floor is covered with leaves, rotting logs, rocks and stone.  Although these are not great insulators, they provide some protection from the wind and winter precipitation.

Frogs and toads in Arkansas hibernate in the winter.  Their metabolism is greatly reduced or shuts down completely during hibernation.  They find a place to “sleep” out the winter in a shelter called a “hibernaculum.”  So which frogs and toads select each type of shelter?

Where do individual species go?

Aquatic Species - This includes the American Bullfrog, Green (Bronze) Frog, Pickerel Frog, and Southern Leopard Frog.  These four will dive down to the bottom of the pond, lake, or stream and settle in to the mud and silt for the winter.  The water and ice above them are great insulators against the winter.  They stop breathing with their lungs, and blood is increased to the permeable skin where oxygen is obtained directly from the cold water (“cutaneous respiration”).  Their legs are “spread eagle” to keep them in place.  Their second eyelids (nictitating membranes) are pulled up over their eyes which sink deep into their cranial cavities for protection.  They don’t get under the mud because there is not enough dissolved oxygen in it and they would suffocate.  Their hearts continue to pump a small amount of blood, but they don’t eat and spend the winter in a state of torpor.  By the way, Bullfrog and Green frog tadpoles will also over-winter at the bottom and fed on plant material and detritus (waste material).

Toads - This includes the Dwarf American, Fowler’s, Western and Eastern Narrow-mouthed toads, and the three Spadefoot species.  Toads will take advantage of the warm earth below the frost line by digging a burrow (or borrowing one from another animal).  Their metabolism cuts way back, but they continue to breathe and pump blood.  The Crawfish Frog also stays in a burrow all winter.  Unlike the aquatic frogs, these toads, spadefoots, and Crawfish Frog do not assume a “spread eagle” position, but keep their limbs close to their bodies.

 

Treefrogs - This includes the Bird-voiced, Cope’s, Gray, Green, Spring Peeper and Squirrel treefrogs, the Boreal, Cajun, Illinois, and Strecker’s chorus frogs, Blanchard’s Cricket Frog, and the Wood Frog (which is not a tree frog).  These frogs find hibernacula on the forest floor.  They pull their limbs in, protect their eyes, and shut down under leaf litter, in rotting logs, in a shallow burrow or in cracks and crevices of rocks.  Their bodies produce a kind of glucose antifreeze that keeps their vital organs from freezing, but in many cases their bodies appear to freeze solid - like frogsicles!  Wood Frogs in particular can exist in this mostly frozen state north of the Arctic Circle!  In the spring, these frogs thaw from the inside out.  Foxes like to scratch through the leaf litter in search of a frozen frog treat.

Don’t forget to obtain your 2015 Arkansas Frogs and Toads Wall Calendar here

Save the Frogs Day - April 2014

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L-R Kaitlyn Zamzow, Chelsea Korfel, MaryAnne Stansbury, Jeremy Chamberlain, Peggy & Tom Krohn

Save the Frogs Day - Saturday, April 26th

Peg and I spent an enjoyable afternoon at Pinnacle Mountain State Park south of Little Rock on Saturday. Jeremy Chamberlain and Chelsea Korfel brought several frogs and toads including bullfrogs, a chorus frog, green treefrogs, a dwarf American toad, a southern leopard frog, and an eastern narrow-mouthed toad.

Maryanne Stansbury, the park interpreter, was a great host for the event which drew many families.  The kids were shown how to fold a business card into a frog and then race them.

Save the Frogs Day brings public attention to the importance of amphibians, why they are in trouble, and what can be done to help them.  They can be indicators that the environment is in trouble.

Check out the website at www.savethefrogs.com

Garden Frogs

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Why Garden Frogs and Toads are Beneficial

1) First and foremost: Frogs and toads eat a LOT of insects.  One individual can eat as many as 10,000 insects in a season.  They do their eating at night so they are not bothered by your gardening chores.  Get rid of your ants, mosquitoes and their larvae, sow bugs, flies, earwigs, slugs, cucumber beetles, caterpillars, grasshoppers, cutworms, and pill bugs.  Turn them into fertilizer through the stomachs of garden frogs and toads.

2) Garden frogs and toads are interesting, benign, and fun creatures.  Children and adults love them.  However, they do have some nasty chemical compounds on their skin, so if you handle them, please wash your hands afterward, and keep your hands away from your face or mouth until you do.

3) Their songs help to thaw out our frozen bones after a hard winter.  Can you imagine camping out in the Spring and not hearing lots of frogs and toads calling for their mates?  That would truly be an alarming “silent spring.”

4) Garden frogs and toads are environmental indicators.  They spend part of their life cycles in water and part on land.  They absorb moisture and oxygen through their permeable skins.  If there is something amiss with the environment, you will notice the consequences sooner with frogs and toads than with your own symptoms.  So if you have lots of frogs and toads around, your water and air are pretty good.

How to Attract Garden Frogs and Toads

1) Garden frogs and toads need three things: shelter, water, and something to eat (insects).

2) They need hiding places: shrubs, logs, piles of rocks, leaf litter, toad houses, a pond.

About toad houses: You can buy great looking, decorative toad houses, but you might not want to put them in your garden for toads.  Try turning a terracotta flower pot upside down with a door broken out of the side.  Or dig a trench and lay a log on top of it with an entrance at each end.  Be sure to place it under a shrub or other shade to keep it cool in the Summer.  Make sure your toad house is open on the bottom and the entry is big enough (4 inches will do).

3) They need hibernating places: leaf litter, ponds, burrows.  Some frogs hibernate at the bottom of a pond and shut down their systems until Spring.

About leaf litter: Don’t be too quick to rake up all your leaves in the Fall.  Many animals, including frogs and toads, use piles of leaves for protection in the Winter.  When they stir in the Spring there will be lots of bugs to eat in the leaf litter.

4) They need water: Frogs need to be near ponds year round.  Toads need ponds during the mating season.  Here are some hints about building a frog/toad pond:

- Make it deep enough so it won’t freeze solid in the Winter (18 inches or more).

- Frogs and toads like still water, so use a minimum fountain or no fountain.

- The tadpoles will keep your pond clean of algae.

- Frogs and toads will keep it clean of mosquitoes and larvae.

How to keep them Healthy

1) Avoid using pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides.  Use natural plantings that are hardy without chemical help.

2) Keep grass around the pond cut short.  Frogs and toads will hide in long grass so you cannot see them, and then will not survive a mower blade.

3) Don’t put fish in your pond.  Fish will eat tadpoles.

4) Provide places to bask and hide.  How about laying a log part in, part out of the pond.  A pile of rocks is a great place to sun bath and hide if necessary.

5) If you use mesh to cover some of your garden crops:  Use a mesh with 1 1/2″ square holes or greater to keep the frogs and toads from getting entangled.

6) Domestic pets:  Do your best to keep your dog and cat separate from your garden frogs and toads.

Timing Considerations

Copyright Anita Hayden

 Mrs. Frog says, “If you build it, they will come.”  Give the garden frogs and toads in your neighborhood time to populate your little piece of paradise naturally.

Don’t try to capture frogs and toads elsewhere and bring them to your place - they will probably either try to migrate back home or possibly die.

And DON’T buy frogs or toads from a pet store and introduce them to your garden.  They are not native creatures.  They will become an invasive species and disrupt the natural balance of your local ecosystem.

It may take a couple of seasons for your garden frog and toad population to balance out, but you will be glad for the effort you put in to attract them.

Frog Call Timing

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Frog Calling Phenology (timing)

When do the frogs and toads start to call?  This frog call timing chart will help you practice before you go out to the pond to monitor.

Late Winter/Early Spring: Wood Frogs; Spring Peepers; Southern Leopard Frogs; Chorus Frogs; Pickerel Frog; Crawfish Frog

Spring: American Bullfrog; Dwarf American Toads; Blanchard’s Cricket Frog

Late Spring/Summer: Fowler’s Toad; Green Frog; All the Treefrogs

Anytime after a heavy rain: Narrow-mouthed Toads; Spadefoots

FrogWatch Field Scope Tutorials now available

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Watch UTube Tutorials for FrogWatch Field Scope here:

Frog Watch Field Scope Data Entry Tutorial: http://youtu.be/0i6gNbAUvYg

Frog Watch Field Scope Mapping Tutorial: http://youtu.be/cVCLfuJIFyU

Frog Watch Field Scope Graphing Tutorial: http://youtu.be/CYCT7YIje7I

Frog Watch Field Scope Calling Calendar Tutorial: http://youtu.be/nw26kUki_us

Frog Watch Field Scope Playlist (4 videos above): http://bit.ly/1k4Rw7h 

Learn how to enter your own observation data, map and graph the sites and observations from around the country. You can check out what frogs and toads have been heard in your area and when they started and stopped calling.  A unique feature allows you to view map and graphic data simultaneously on a split screen.

For more in depth knowledge about Frog Watch Field Scope, attend a Frog Watch Workshop scheduled around Arkansas.  Click here for the training schedule.

What’s the difference between a Frog and a Toad?

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This most asked question about frogs and toads is not easy to answer.

Typical Frog

Typical Toad

The following differences are generally true, but there are usually exceptions.

Legs - Frogs have long legs for leaping; Toads have short legs and walk or hop.  That effects how they avoid predators and capture food.  Frogs can leap away from danger, while toads depend more on hiding, camouflage, or skin toxins.

Teeth - Toads have no teeth; most frogs have minor upper teeth.  Both frogs and toads swallow their food whole and have no way to chew their food.  The teeth in frogs are used to prevent the prey from escaping.

Skin - Frogs tend to have smooth, slippery skin (good for streamlined swimming); Toads have dry,warty skin.

Toxins - Both frogs and toads have skins that will release nasty toxins to prevent predators from eating them, but toads have an additional pair of Parotoid glands located behind their eyes that are full of toxins.

Tongues - Frogs have long tongues that will occasionally miss their mark, but their leaping abilities create more eating opportunities.  Toads have shorter tongues so the prey needs to be closer, but they never miss.

Bodies - Frogs tend to be light and slim (so they can jump farther).  Toads tend to be chubby little critters.

Eyes - Frogs eyes tend to be able to see forward, backward, up and down.  Toads eyes face more forward.

Eggs - Frogs lay their eggs singly, in clumps, or in floating films.  Toads lay their eggs in long strands.

It is not wrong to think of toads as frogs with unique characteristics.  Frogs and toads are both amphibians in the order Anura - meaning “tailless.”

Caution - Since frogs and toads both have skins that can secrete toxic substances, it is important that you wash your hands thoroughly after handling one and avoid contact with your eyes, nose, or mouth.

Frog Festival in Rayne, LA

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Newspaper Office in Rayne, LA

Peg and I spent a couple of enjoyable days in Rayne, LA for the 41st annual Frog Festival on November 8th and 9th. There were frog murals on many buildings and 109 frog statues like the one above - each one unique. Click on the picture to see a lot more pictures on the Arkansas Frogs and Toads Facebook page.