Category Archives: People Helping Frogs and Toads

09/30/09

Slow down: Toads Crossing!

Traveling with my family, we’ve come across some interesting animal crossing signs. In New Hampshire, we’ve seen moose crossing signs, in Florida, we’ve seen turtle crossing signs, and in South Africa, we’ve seen baboon crossing signs:

moose turtle images

If you live in England, however, you may see toad crossing signs at hundreds of different locations:

toad-crossing-sign

The Telegraph (UK) reports that from January through May, Britain’s toads will get increased protection from the Department for Transport with migratory toad crossing signs. Britain’s toads, especially the European Common Toad and the Natterjack toad, are under threat. Toads are considered a “biodiversity priority species.”

According to the Toad Crossing site, local volunteers are part of a national campaign called “Toads on Roads,” coordinated by the wildlife charity Froglife and supported by Amphibian and Reptile Groups of the UK, a national network of volunteer groups concerned with amphibian and reptile conservation. Volunteers wear bright jackets and help toads across the UK’s roads, in an effort to help save the animal from further declines.

I’m sure Mr. Toad would approve. On the other hand, he was a pretty crazy driver!

09/18/09

A Place in the Choir for the Houston Toad

Maybe it’s because my choir rehearsals begin tonight, but I was intrigued by this story about the Houston Toad—the star soprano in the frog chorus. Here’s some information about the toad from The Dallas Morning News:

In the nightly pondside chorus, the Houston toad sings soprano. Its clear, high cry, lasting as long as 14 seconds, trills above the basso profundo grunts of the less gifted. It’s a remarkable performance. But to hear it, you’ll need to travel as far as Bastrop County.

Unfortunately habitat loss and drought have driven this toad to the brink of extinction. It hasn’t been seen in the Houston area for 50 years, and is now found only in a small area of Bastrop County, Texas. In an effort to increase the numbers of the endangered toad, 5000 baby toads, raised from eggs at a Houston Zoo nursery, were released into the wild. Texas State University, the Houston Zoo, Texas Parks and Wildlife, the Environmental Defense Fund, and private landowners are all working together save the Houston Toad.

I found a YouTube video so that I could hear the Houston toad sing. It’s ten minutes long, but I found it so inspiring to see how people are working to save this toad. It ends with a hopeful love scene—you’ll have to watch it to see what I mean!

08/19/09

Rainy Nights in Georgia (and Texas, Florida, and New Jersey) Help Frogs

Susan posed an interesting question to me yesterday. How has the record rainfall in the U.S. effected our amphibian friends? Humans have been somewhat inconvenienced by the cool, rainy summer of ’09—canceled picnics, damp weddings, rainy vacations, and decreased sales of ice cream. But as I’ve found out, all this rain has been a boon for amphibians. Here are a few stories from around the country:

Georgia: This summer Southwest Georgia was soaked with rain, but this helped researchers with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, who released over 1000 gopher frog tadpoles in a seasonal pond at a Nature Conservancy site. These rare stubby, nocturnal frogs spend most of their lives in gopher tortoise burrows and are found almost exclusively in the Coastal Plain’s longleaf pine ecosystem.The water level of the release pond was at its highest level ever, which will help the tadpoles survive, according to an article on the Early County News, GA website.

West Texas: It’s usually pretty hot and arid in the summer in West Texas. But in an article in the Odessa American (TX), Ken Broadnax explains how this dry land can be temporarily transformed into a wetlands. The playas, dry areas with hard clay bottoms, can store water for months. Amphibians bury themselves in the playa, emerging only when conditions are right. After a storm, within a day or two, the male toads emerge and begin their calls, seeking a mate. This summer, West Texans are hearing the unfamiliar sounds of croaking toads.

Florida: According to the AccuWeather blog, rainstorms around Memorial Day caused an excess of standing water, which created a breeding haven for the 30+ species of frogs in Florida. These rain-filled ponds called vernal pools lack fish because they eventually dry up, and so they are ideal nurseries for tadpoles (fish eat tadpoles). All those baby tadpoles from spring are now adult frogs—and there are lots of them. Frog calls are most abundant in the mating season, but they can be heard year-round in Florida for some species. So that’s why some Floridians are being kept awake this summer by the high-pitched calls of the Ornate Chorus Frogs, among other frog choirs.


Ornate Chorus Frog, photograph by Rebecca Meegan, Coastal Plains Institute and Land Conservancy

Ornate Chorus Frog, photograph by Rebecca Meegan, Coastal Plains Institute and Land Conservancy

New Jersey: This summer has been so wet in New Jersey that I’ve rarely had to water my garden. In the early summer, we found a slug in our kitchen almost every night. Maybe even the slugs were tired of the rain. While this rainy weather was depressing (it’s over, thank goodness), it was great for New Jersey amphibians like the endangered Pine Barrens tree frog, as reported in the Press of Atlantic City. The Nature Conservancy recently acquired some land in the Pine Barrens that contains many vernal ponds. Because of the record rainfall, one of these ponds now measures 30 feet, providing an excellent breeding area for the endangered tree frog.Vernal pools are disappearing throughout New Jersey because of overdevelopment. That gave me an idea…perhaps we can convince The Boss (aka Bruce Springsteen) to get involved in our cause!

Have you noticed an increase in frogs and toads in your area due to record rainfall?

08/2/09

When Irish Toads Are Smiling

Recently I read on the Friends of the Irish Environment website about a small scale project that’s made a big difference for the endangered Natterjack toad, the only toad species native to Ireland. Only about 8,000 Natterjack toads remain in isolated pockets on Ireland’s Dingle peninsula.

One of the main problems for the Natterjack Toad is habitat loss. With a reduction in aquatic ecosystems—ponds, vernal pools, bogs—due to development,  populations of toads have become isolated from each other, and eventually their numbers will continue to dwindle.

To help the toads colonize new habitats, the Irish National Parks and Wildlife Service launched a project called Toad in the Hole. They pay farmers to dig and maintain ponds on their land. So far the program has been a success. The farmers are motivated, not just by the money—the ponds take quite a bit of work to maintain. Rather they are motivated because they want to help conserve the species.

As Michael Foley, a landowner from Rossbeigh, says, “I got involved purely to conserve the species. The people of Kerry are very proud of the toads. They are part of the country’s culture.” His pond is now teeming with toadlets and tadpoles.

This project makes so much sense to me, and yet it didn’t cost a huge amount of money. Each farmer is paid the US equivalent of about $1000 a year to maintain the pond. I think similar projects could be implemented in many areas where amphibians’ natural habitat has been destroyed.

Sometimes the problems facing amphibians seem insurmountable, but the solutions don’t necessarily have to be complicated.

A young, not fully grown Natterjack Toad. Photo by Piet Spaans.

A young, not fully grown, Natterjack Toad. Photo by Piet Spaans.

07/15/09

Make Way for Toadlets

Citizens of Chilliwack, BC, Canada, have closed off roads to protect Western toadlets on their annual migration. The toads breed in wetlands, but must migrate across a busy road to reach the forested areas where they spend the rest of the summer and winter. Over a 3-day period, volunteers saved over 38,000 toads.

Here is a cute slide show of the event and a YouTube video of one tiny straggler’s epic journey across the road.