Frogs and toads on the Frio River 8-17 to 8-21-17
We regularly hear Leopard Frogs and Cricket Frogs at the river or in a nearby pond. We have not been serious about monitoring, but just practice our calls. I do a decent Blanchard's Cricket Frog click (also good for a Green Kingfisher which I saw twice on this trip).
I've wandered this spot (between the Rio Frio low water crossing and Garner Park) since I was 5. I've spent a good bit of time on the trails and in the meadows during the past 56 years. We've watched native "game" and exotic species with Dad, gathered and identified wildflowers with Mom, and "birded" with both of them. Since they have been gone we have been on our own - continuing to check prime spots for wildlife and coming up with our own ideas.
Last year we accidentally observed the results of a recent toad hatching - numbers of tiny Gulf Coast Toads along the river-side trails. We set up at the pond and monitored the Leopard Frog calls, recording and then "talking to the frogs" once our recordings were complete. We heard Cricket frogs only on the river and only once on that trip.
But this trip was different - the water is down because there has been little rain. The pond is quite dry and somewhat stagnant. There are still fish, turtles, and frogs, but nothing seemed to be moving much. Only the resident Mallards were active - one male, one female. There are usually more ducks and sometimes geese. We also often observe transient birds at this pond during our visits. Not this year.
We regularly heard Blanchard's Cricket Frogs on the river (never beyond CL-1) this trip. Some calls came from a slow moving creek that empties into the river where we swim. Other calls came from a small area that is cut-off from the main part of the river channel. Parrot Grass is thick there. I observed two different cricket frogs in that location. One was about an inch long, The other was about 1/2 inch. The frogs regularly responded to calls (whether my vocal "click" or using a couple of rocks to "click"). I taught a few children about calling the frogs and heard them throughout our last few days - calling and receiving a response from the frog(s).
I also called both cricket frogs and Leopard Frogs at the pond on the evening of the 17th. I normally don't call the frogs, but wait to see if they are calling. However, I was testing to see if we wanted to do a more organized monitoring the next day. I received a response from a cricket frog (CL-1), but none from the Leopard Frogs. I did observe and photograph one small Leopard Frog on the bank (iNaturalist observation 7547062). It may have been responding to my call. I have no way to know. We did not monitor later because of the poor response.
I will submit recordings of the cricket frogs once I decide how I plan to do it (following my problems with SoundCloud recordings disappearing).
On 8-21 I observed a small (perhaps 1.5 to 2 inch) Gulf Coast Toad on a river trail. There was no call. This observation is at iNaturalist 7592807.
It was a rich 5 days on the river. I will be working on identifications of plants and wildflowers for some time.
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