Last night I went to a training session to become a volunteer frog monitor in the forest preserves. Three times a year, we will go to two different sites one hour after sunset to listen to frogs calling. This data will be recorded and used to determine the ecological vitality of our Chicago Wilderness.
The frog monitoring survery is part of the Habitat Project of Chicago Wilderness. It is possible to be a plant monitor, butterfly monitor and bird monitor. As the zoos and aquariums of the country have labeled 2008 as the Year of the Frog (with celebrations and information sessions on Leap Day), I decided to help out with the frogs. These critters are in trouble, all over the world they are becoming extinct. Because they are in the middle of the food chain, they are a good idicator of the health of our ecosystems.
I'm excited about being a frog monitor and will have to learn to distinguish 13 different frog mating calls before the middle of March. That's probably going to be the hardest part, but the training session provided a lot of information and a cd to listen to and learn from. Here's a link to the mating call of the eastern grey tree frog: http://www.habitatproject.org/frogs/sounds/EasternGrayTreefrog_Call.mp3
The frog monitoring survery is part of the Habitat Project of Chicago Wilderness. It is possible to be a plant monitor, butterfly monitor and bird monitor. As the zoos and aquariums of the country have labeled 2008 as the Year of the Frog (with celebrations and information sessions on Leap Day), I decided to help out with the frogs. These critters are in trouble, all over the world they are becoming extinct. Because they are in the middle of the food chain, they are a good idicator of the health of our ecosystems.
I'm excited about being a frog monitor and will have to learn to distinguish 13 different frog mating calls before the middle of March. That's probably going to be the hardest part, but the training session provided a lot of information and a cd to listen to and learn from. Here's a link to the mating call of the eastern grey tree frog: http://www.habitatproject.org/frogs/sounds/EasternGrayTreefrog_Call.mp3
Go to www. habitatproject.org to learn more about the whole monitoring process. There may still be time to be a frog monitor or some other kind of volunteer for this year. Frogs are in trouble, they need our help. I had no idea there were such people as frog poachers. That thought terrifies me. Equally as terrifying is the fact that the cricket frog, which was so abundant in our area just 40 years ago as to be a nuisance, has vanished. Maybe there are some out there, but so many of our natural areas do not have monitors, it is difficult to know.
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