This blog entry is dedicated to amphibians – frogs to be exact. And why not? Afterall, 2008 has been dubbed The Year of the Frog. Major companies are devoting marketing campaigns to raise awareness of the plight of frogs as a result of worldwide environmental degradation.
Tonight I went for my evening jog in Rock Creek Park and was serenaded by the basoon-esque croak of several bullfrogs, Rana catesbeiana, probably would have made an attempt to catch them too, were it not for my fear of the fierce allergic reaction I have to the poison ivy lining the banks of the creek.
Sexy and Barry White-sounding as they are, however, the bullfrog is certainly not my favorite amphibian. That would be the canyon treefrog, Hyla arenicolor, the cliff-climbing little frog I’m about to get re-aquainted with in Parunuweap in three weeks. The first time I heard a chorus of tree frogs in the canyon I thought some local boysouts had smuggled rivet guns on their camping trip. Click here for a sneak preview of our bedtime lullaby.
Everyone should have a favorite frog!
I’ve got to go with Boreal Toad – ok, so its not a frog, technically, but these guys are rugged, and charming. And they need all the help they can get. Populations in the Southern Rockies are disappearing – likely due to deadly Chytrid fungus. This has also been recently documented in Utah boreal toads, and the situation looks bleak. But this year eggs were taken into captivity to start a captive refuge population, in an effort to conserve them
The COQUI of course!!! They have a lovely song – and design kick-arse blogs and such!