Suburban naturalist: Meet the frogs keeping you up at night
It’s frog mating season and they’re going crazy down at the pond
The neighborhood I just moved to has a big pond in the middle of it, and I like to take my 4-year-old for a walk around it after dinner. It frees up enough calories for me to have an Over the Edge IPA afterward, it burns a little more energy for him, and it’s beautiful out in the evening — wins all the way around.
So we went out there one night a few weeks ago to take a lap and ran right into a straight up symphony of sounds.
This video I shot doesn’t even come close to doing it justice, but it sounded a little like this:
I am not a suburban naturalist so I couldn’t tell you what these were. So I called up an expert: Marvin Bouknight from the Charlotte Nature Museum.
He walked me through three different frog sounds that I picked up with my iPhone.
Frog 1: The “mad baby”
Result: Eastern Narrowmouth Toad
This one scared me the most. Sounded like a kid was screaming as we were heading down to the trail. But Bouknight says it’s also really cool because it only eats ants and termites.
Charlotte is right on the edge of their range; they’re more common farther south and like bogs and swamps.
Frog 2: The growl
Result: Bullfrog
OK, maybe I should have known this one.
Frog 3: The “rubbing a balloon”
Result: Southern Leopard Frog
Another common one in North Carolina. I was only a little bummed out I didn’t find a rare frog.
Why are they so loud right now? This is frog mating season, and they’ll be full-throated right after a big rain.
These frogs lay their eggs in temporary puddles to avoid predators, so they have to get right down to business while they’re out there.
Head out after dark for the best chance to hear them.
Frog photos: Savannah River Ecology Laboratory.
Andrew Dunn covers schools for The Charlotte Observer and carries at least three pens wherever he goes.
This story was originally published May 10, 2015 at 9:57 PM with the headline "Suburban naturalist: Meet the frogs keeping you up at night."