Author Archives: Susan

07/30/09

A Froggy Birthday

I celebrated my birthday this past week, and my husband John gave me a frog book, wrapped in frog paper, with, of course, a frog birthday card (featuring a red-eyed tree frog).

Anyway, I love the book he gave me: Frogs and Toads of North America: A Comprehensive Guide to their Identification, Behavior, and Calls by Lang Elliott, Carlos Davidson, and Carl Gerhardt. Each page spread features one type of frog: on the left is all the information about the frog, on the right side is a full-page photo of the frog. This book is packed with the natural history of frogs and toads, including information about their range and habitat, descriptions of behaviors, and tips for finding, observing, and identifying frogs and toads.

So as you take pictures for the FROGS ARE GREEN photo contest and need to identify the frog or toad, or if you wonder what kind of frogs and toads you have in your backyard or in your part of the country, consider getting this book. The book also comes with a CD of the calls of 99 frog calls.

35919725

07/27/09

Good news for The Mountain Yellow-legged Frog

I’ve been reading some pretty gloomy stories lately about the worldwide amphibian decline, but I’ve also read a surprising number of hopeful stories as well.  Here’s one Susan passed along to me:

A population of a rare, almost extinct western frog, the Mountain Yellow-legged Frog (Rana mucosa) has been found in the San Jacinto Wildnerness in Southern California. Until last month researchers had estimated only 122 adult Mountain Yellow-legged Frogs remained in the wild. This species was once widespread, but declined over the years when non-native trout were added to recreational fishing waters, disturbing local ecosystems. Tadpoles often become prey to non-native fish such as trout. 

Biologists from the U.S. Geological Survey and the San Diego Natural History Museum made the discovery. Reading this article from the Environmental News Service, I realize how many zoos, state, local, and federal government agencies need to be involved and motivated to save an endangered species.  The San Diego Zoo, for example, has a program is to breed mountain yellow-legged frogs in captivity and return them to their native habitat. 

Kudos to all biologists, museums and zoos, and government agencies involved in this effort!

Courtesy of U.S. Geological Servey
Courtesy of U.S. Geological Survey
To learn more about this, I recommend watching the PBS Nature special The Thin Green Line. (You can watch it online.)  This absorbing documentary is about all aspects of the amphibian decline, but includes a segment on the Mountain Yellow-legged Frog in Yosemite.  Check out The Mountain Yellow-Legged Frog site as well.
07/24/09

Toad Abodes

This summer, you may want to encourage a toad or two to take up residence in your backyard or garden. One toad can eat up to 10,000 insect pests over the course of the summer. Toads like damp, shady areas and need shelter. If you want to attract a toad, you should provide a good home, or “toad abode” for it. Garden stores or online stores sell plain terracotta or even fancy toad abodes like the one below from Lucinda & Co.:

Toad Abode from Lucinda & Co.

Toad Abode from Lucinda & Co.

Toads need water, too, so you should leave tray of water near their abode. Line the toad’s home with leaf mold or leaf litter.  Don’t bring toads from elsewhere and put them in your yard (or let loose pet toads).  As with your frog pond, build it and (hopefully) the toad will come.

Here’s a solar-powered one with lights.

Solar Powered Toad Abode

Solar Powered Toad Abode

I’m almost tempted to buy this, but unfortunately I have no toads in my city backyard. Maybe I could use it as a Slug Abode (I’ve got a lot of them!).

Here some more suggestions from the National Wildlife Federation for making your own toad abode:

If you’re on a budget, you can improvise. For instance, half-bury a large flowerpot on its side in a shady spot. Or take the same pot, drill holes at the rim in the shape of a door, tap gently with a hammer to remove the chip, invert and decorate to your heart’s content (nontoxic paints, please). Another option: Arrange flat rocks with a toad-sized space underneath. Situate your toad abode in the shade—say, under a bush—and in the dampest spot in your yard, near a gutter downspout, air-conditioner drip or in a low spot that collects rainwater.

Toads are sensitive to toxins, so don’t use lawn and garden chemicals in your garden or backyard!

Speaking of toads, I’m working on post about Toad Lit, so please send along your suggestions for your favorite children’s books with toad characters.

07/22/09

Frog Lover: Wangari Maathai

Last week, I wrote a post about Prince Charles’ Rainforest Project, which included a video featuring celebrities with a green frog. Today I came across another Rainforest Project video, this one featuring African environmental activist Wangari Maathai with a frog. I’ve alway admired Maathai and even quoted her in our Mission statement for this blog.

Wangari Maatha, born in Kenya, was the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize (in 2004). She started The Green Belt Movement in Kenya in 1977, with the idea that communities across Kenya would plant trees to help with the problem of deforestation. To date, over 40 million trees have been planted, mainly by women.

I few years ago, I wrote a children’s book manuscript about Maathai called “The Tree Lady” (unpublished). To write the story, I did a lot of research about her. I learned that she called herself “Mary Jo” when she studied in the United States. I am a fairly reluctant Mary Jo, so I’m glad she switched back to her African name when she returned home!

Professor Maathai often talks about how watching frogs and tadpoles as a child spurred her interest in nature and biology. When she returned home to Africa from the United States, she was saddened to find that the frogs were gone: the stream by her home had dried up due to deforestation.

In an interview with Marianne Schnall, appearing today in The Huffington Post, Maathai touches on many issues, but, as always, she mentions frogs:

Sometimes when I talk to little children I remind them of the fact that when I was growing up myself, I used to play with frog eggs and tadpoles and I used to walk in the field, I used to literally copy whatever my mother was doing on the land. And that may be the reason why I eventually developed the passion for green and for the Earth. So it is extremely important for adults and especially those who are in charge of cities to make sure that we do not lose touch with the land and with the environment. And especially our children.

So in honor of Wangari Maathai, spend some time this summer enjoying nature with your kids—and try and see some frogs, too!

07/20/09

There's a frog disruptor in your shampoo!*

Last week I wrote about Atrazine, an endocrine disruptor used widely in pesticides. These chemicals, which mimic human hormones, have been connected with genital deformities in fish, frogs, and possibly newborn baby boys.

This week I’m writing about endocrine disruptors in products a bit closer to home: skin creams, shampoos, deodorants, sunscreens, and other cosmetics and personal-care products. According to the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics site, endocrine disruptors such as phthalates that are used in cosmetics, “interfere with reproductive functioning by reducing the levels of sex hormones, which are critical for development and functioning of the sex organs. Additional research suggests that these same mechanisms may link phthalates to breast cancer.”

In his book Safe Trip to Eden, David Steinman writes about phthalates:

Because phthalates aren’t always strongly bonded to the materials to which they’ve been added, they can be absorbed through the human body through inhalation or the skin. The body’s largest organ, the skin is an exceptional vehicle for absorption of phthalates via cosmetics and personal care products, enabling their passage into the body without passing through the harsh environment of the gastrointestinal tract or without first passing through the liver, the body’s main detoxifying organ.

I decided to take a trip to CVS to see if I could find products without these chemicals. But virtually every cosmetic and personal-care product I found from shampoo to skin moisturizers, nail polish to sunscreen contains these or other similar chemicals.

I use a shampoo called Aveeno, Active Naturals with Nourishing Wheat Complex and Blue Lotus Flower. It’s in an earthy brownish bottle with images of wheat stalks on it. So it’s natural, right? No. It’s full of chemicals—a real chemical soup actually.

I also use a skin cream called Origins: A Perfect World, Intensely Hydrating Body Cream with Green Tea. The cream came in a very upscale-looking box wrapped with twine and recyclable green packaging. This cream isn’t as natural as it claims either. It’s manufactured by Estee Lauder and gets a so-so rating on the Environmental Working Group’s Skin Deep Cosmetic Safety Database. (You can search almost any product here.) In fact, I found that some of the budget generic CVS skin creams get a better rating on the database than the pricey Origins.

I finally found some products at CVS that didn’t have chemicals—the Burt’s Bees products—but they weren’t in the cosmetics aisle. Feeling virtuous and frog-friendly, I plopped down $17.99 for Burt’s Bees Radiance SP 15, Day Lotion with Royal Jelly. On the container it says, “Never any Sulfates, Parabens, Phthalates, or Petrochemicals.” Great, right? Well, I used it and, unfortunately it contains a chemical-smelling fragrance, which to my sensitive nose, was so strong I couldn’t use the cream. Evidently cosmetic companies aren’t required to list ingredients in fragrances. So beware when it says “fragrance” as one of the ingredients.

I finally gave up and went to the local health food store. I found lots of chemical-free cosmetics and personal care products there. I ended up with Aubrey Organics, Rosa Mosqueta, Rose Hip, Moisturizing Cream. It has a nice almondy smell that reminds me of Jergens. Ingredients include aloe vera, sweet almond oil, and rose hip oil—and not one chemical!

rosa_mosqueta

I’m not saying you have to throw out all your cosmetics, but I would at least be aware of how products are marketed to seem natural or organic when they aren’t at all. Read the labels. Check your cosmetics in the Skin Deep database to see how they rate (note: they also have user reviews of cosmetics). And consider switching to chemical-free organic products. I welcome any feedback about natural cosmetics you’ve used and can recommend to others.

For more information: from Scientific American magazine, “Saving Face: How Safe Are Cosmetics and Body Care Products” and from The Daily Green, “How to Go Green: Nature Skin Care.”

*I got the title of this post from a post by John Laumer on Tree Hugger,”There’s a Frog Disruptor in your Soap,” which discusses the possible dangers of the chemical triclosan in soaps and other products.

07/17/09

Frogs of Summer: Wood Frog

Sometimes it seems that the charismatic frogs get all the attention (like our mascot, the red-eyed tree frog). But the more ordinary frogs with muted colors have a beauty all their own.

Recently, my husband John and younger son Tim took a trip to New Hampshire where it rained every day. But all this rain brought out—you guessed it—lots of frogs and toads. My husband took this picture of a Wood Frog near Lookout Ledge in Randolph, New Hampshire (in the White Mountains). Unfortunately because he’s my husband, he’s disqualified from entering the Frogs Are Green photo contest!

Wood Frog, photo copyright John Rounds

Wood Frog, photo copyright John Rounds

Despite the rainy vacation, I’m glad my husband was able to get this beautiful photo. He took the picture on a hike on the one slightly sunny afternoon they had, using an ordinary point-and-shoot digital camera and a flash.

Here’s information about Wood Frogs:

Wood Frogs live in Northeastern US and most of Canada. In the winter they hibernate in places where it goes well below freezing—the water in their bodies freezes solid. This ability allows the Wood Frog to live further north than any other reptile or amphibian in North America. It is easily recognized by the dark mask around its eyes and the prominent ridges along its back.