News Review published an article on the frogs calls that could be heard during the early spring months in Michigan. Author Patrick Bevier is a freelance outdoor writer and principal at Sheridan Elementary. The author describes each call and is fascinated how each call is unique to each species. What I liked about this article were the different perspectives he described whenever he hearing frog calls out within their natural habitat. Frog call recognition is helpful whenever identifying them, and can also be used to the listener's advantage if they were out a night and can't see the frogs face to face. Frog calls are typical to their mating ritual. To the female, a great call represents a suitable mate or territorial space that each creature dominates. The author enjoys the calls of frogs because of it's seasonal reminder that spring is near. The first frog call the author describes is the western chorus frog (Pseudacris triseriata) and spring peeper(Pseudacris crucifer). Both the spring peeper and chorus frog sounds like the teeth of the comb which was an interesting way to put it. Wood frogs(Lithobates sylvaticus ) according to the author resemble the sound of a “duck chuck”. The Northern leopard frog(Lithobates pipiens) sounds like a someone in depe sleep, and the gray tree frog(Hyla versicolo), the only aboreal species in Michigan produces high-pithed trills. American toads(Anaxyrus americanus) start to approach around early to mid May and produce a high pitched trill. Michigan’s green frogs(Lithobates clamitans) being of one of the largest species of frog found in that region produce a “banjo” sound according to the author. Bull frog(Lithobates catesbeianus) being the largest produce low rum that according to the author mimics the grunt of a cow. I enjoyed the author's point of view and interest of these frogs. Nothing being presented showed any bias but was well informative. It was interesting to what someone of little biological background thinks of these slimy creates!
link to article - http://www.petoskeynews.com/sports/outdoors/gradual-warming-harkens-procession-of-calling-frog-species/article_b84cfaa7-1726-5295-9ede-0c6ee73fbafb.html
1 comment:
Nice article - I hope this led to increased interest in local frogs for his readers!
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