As toads are croaking, I'm listening

Shhhh! Be very quiet. I’m listening to frogs. And toads. There’s a difference, don’t you know.

What? You think I’m kidding? Oh no! This is serious stuff.

It sounded like way too much of a good thing to be true. So I checked it out. Yep. It’s real alright. And it serves a major purpose.

The notice was sent out by the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission that the organization was in need of volunteers to help monitor frog and toad populations across the state by driving designated routes on at least three separate occasions and listening to their respective calls. I really thought it was a hoax. I was wrong again.

It’s the real program being conducted by the North Carolina Calling Amphibian Survey Program, or CASP, as it is called for short. It is a volunteer-based – after all who could really insist on being paid for such a service? – monitoring program organized through the NCWRC.

CASP consists of three non-random routes and 176 routes randomly placed throughout the state. Each route has 10 listening stops at least a half-mile apart in amphibian breeding areas such as wetlands, ponds and streams. Volunteers are asked to accept a route and drive it at least once during each sampling period. During the trek, the frog whisperers listen for and record the calls of breeding frogs and toads.

Sounds exciting and a little bit like eavesdropping to me.

At each stop, those listening spend around five minutes documenting the various sounds and record on data sheets provided the species of the frogs and toads heard. That data then contributes to information on the distribution and relative abundance of the frogs and toads in the state over an allotted time frame.

That information will then be shared with that of other states in order to consider regional and even national trends in the species’ distribution and population. The bottom line is to be able to use the details to protect critical habitats for the frog and toad population.

The great thing about this opportunity is that anyone can participate. All it takes is a willingness to learn the various calls and run a minimum of three surveys a year along the designated routes during the specified times. As it turns out, from now through Feb. 28 is the first of the three six-week-long windows being used to conduct the listening. Others are set for the early spring and early summer seasons.

All material is provided to the volunteer listeners. All that is needed is the time and patience to be a good listener. After all, the CASP information sheet asks: ‘What could be more fun than listening to frogs and toads making whoopee in the night?’

I’m there.