A Froggy Night, Part II

The Virginia Master Naturalist Program blog has been on summer vacation, but it is back now!

In March, I wrote about how I and several Rivanna Master Naturalists are volunteering for the Virginia Frog and Toad Calling Survey, a wildlife study coordinated nationally by the USGS and in our state by the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries (see A Froggy Night). This month, we conducted our final survey of the season for our route in Louisa County. In total for our three surveys this season, we heard frogs at 9 of our 10 sites, and we heard a total of 8 species, including spring peepers, upland chorus frogs, American toads, northern cricket frogs, gray tree frogs, green frogs, American bullfrogs, and a green tree frog, plus we saw a pickerel frog. The green tree frog was a bit of a surprise, because the site was on the eastern edge of its listed range. Our best sites, diversity-wise, were a pasture pond with 4 species, a small man-made lake with 4 species, and the South Anna River with 5 species. We observed the temporal trends we would expect: spring peepers, chorus frogs, and American toads early on, transitioning to cricket frogs, green frogs, American bullfrogs, and gray treefrogs later in the season. We also observed the habitat trends we would expect, with the bullfrogs and cricket frogs in ponds, lakes, and other still waters, and the chorus frogs in forested streams. It’s nice when the frogs have taken the time to read the field guides.