Calling Frog Survey

27 Apr Calling Frog Survey

The Calling Frog Survey utilizes the help of educated volunteers each spring to collect and submit data on amphibian populations in northern Illinois. In 2014, the Chicago Academy of Sciences and its Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum became home to the program. This is the first time data will be collected in the Alfred Caldwell Lily Pool, and it will be exciting to observe frog population changes and/or occurrences at North Pond as restoration work continues.

The report below is from our first frog monitoring foray. Stay tuned for reports from future monitoring sessions in upcoming newsletters.

Survey Notes:

When:

Thursday, April 13, 2023. Clear, light winds, warm. Listening began one half hour after sunset at 8 p.m. 

Who:

Amelia Pollock, Manager of Docent Programs, Maeve Callaghan, Manager of Park Stewardship, Heather Bond, Conservatory and Lily Pool Docent 

 Where:

One listening point at Alfred Caldwell Lily Pool. Three listening points at North Pond Nature Sanctuary 

What a fun time traipsing around after dark. No frogs detected. Our bullfrogs and green frogs at the Lily Pool will begin to call later in the season, and we will be excited to track the possible appearance of frogs over time at North Pond as restoration work continues. There may not have been frog activity, but there was plenty of life in the Park. At the Lily Pool, we saw a pair of (hopefully) nesting Cooper’s Hawks, along with evening wood ducks, mallards, and a Canada Goose on her nest. We also saw a rabbit. Over North Pond, the sky was full of stars and planets, including Mars and Venus, and lots of bats and black-crowned night herons on the move. There was a smattering of ducks and herons along the shoreline of the Pond, and we also spotted our busy beaver, who is quite large, out for a nighttime cruise.