I
recently had quite an adventure during my
Starry Night and Singing Frogs
program at
Turkey Swamp Park, Freehold. It was a beautiful, clear night so stars
were abundant and Venus shone brightly in the sky. In spite of it being late
April, it was a cool night and I worried that the frogs singing would be
inhibited. With this thought foremost in my mind, I led several families out of
the shelter building, leaving the warm fire burning inside, and headed toward
the lake and boathouse where a shallow cove often hosts frogs in
abundance
 |
| Spring Peeper |
As we
walked down the hill toward the cove, I halted and gestured for silence. Faintly in the distance, I heard a familiar sound. Peep,
peep, peep. Spring Peepers! This diminutive chorus frog is a sure sign of
spring, as it is known to call as early as March and only the Wood Frog bests
it by calling in February. I moved our party briskly across the field and toward a
marshy area I know frogs love and was rewarded by the deafening but beautiful sound of
dozens of Spring Peepers singing.
 |
| Pickerel Frog |
Even more
exciting, I detected the calls of two other species: the Pickerel Frog
and Green Frog. Both are true frogs, more closely bound to the water than
Spring Peepers and sport a thin waist and long, powerful jumping legs with
webbed feet. The call of the Pickerel Frog is described as something between a
belch and a snore. The Green Frog call surprisingly resembles the sounds
of a banjo.
 |
| Bullfrog |
Identifying
the frogs was only half the battle and the children were determined to capture
some of our noisy quarry. We spread out around the marsh, but the combination
of darkness, water, marsh plants, and the amazing ability of the Spring Peepers
to echo their calls in confounding ways and fall silent on our approach proved
impossible to overcome. However, the children were delighted when our hard work
was rewarded with the capture of a Pickerel Frog. We admired her for a time,
but finally left the frogs to their marsh, the night, and their wonderful nocturnal concert. As we walked back to the parking lot, I discussed the other
frogs (Bullfrogs, Southern Leopard Frogs, Northern Gray Tree Frogs and Fowler's Toads to name a few) that
would be adding their voices to the nightly performance from now until late
July.
Staff Contributor: Christopher
Lanza, Senior
Park Naturalist
- There are
still spots available in our next session of Starry Night and Singing Frogs on
Friday, May 25!
- Check out
more upcoming programs in the Summer Directory available on our website
on Friday, May 11!
The Creative Arts Experience will be offered again this autumn, so be sure to keep an eye out for it in the Fall Directory (available on Friday, August 10).
