MCMS Froglogger Captures Six Species!

The Froglogger placed at Mill Creek Middle School (Solomons, NW) captured an amazing six species of frogs on May 16! Thanks to Mr. Hendrix for capturing this night of frog calling frenzy at Mill Creek!






 



  The species include the following.

• Spring Peeper  
• Green Treefrog
• Cope's Gray Treefrog
• Southern Leopard Frog
• Northern Greenfrog
• American Bullfrog

Thoughts and Observations for the MARA Project from Mrs. Campbell's Class from Calvert Middle School

From Emma D.

Find  the hidden frog!

Frogs are very important to humans and the environment. For the environment amphibians filter water. Also they control the population of diseased animals. For example, turtles eat diseased frogs so that no other frogs get the disease. The frogs produce chemicals that are helpful for humans to help us combat diseases. Both amphibians and reptiles control insect and small mammal populations. Many frogs are disappearing due to human activity and environmental problems that again humans are causing. Humans hunt frogs for a food source. Pollution and destruction of habitat have driven frogs from their natural habitat. New species are taking the natives food sources. Due to pollution new diseases have had the time to reproduce more rapidly. The Chytrid fungus has been killing off many off many of the different species of frogs. Global warming has caused the rising of the earth’s temperatures and some frogs may not be accustomed to the warmer temperatures. They may ultimately die or move to find new sustainable habitats. Humans can take many actions to protect amphibians and reptiles. We can cut back on pollution. Cutting back on pollution will prevent global warming and stop the rapid reproduction of diseases and fungus. People can stop poaching frogs for food. Construction Agencies can stop cutting down trees, clearing fields, and draining wetlands for housing developments that the agencies can’t sell. Also farmers can use fewer pesticides on their fields to prevent the killing of innocent animals. I have had many interesting encounters with reptiles and amphibians. My brother and I went to a pond in a community to find different types of frogs. We were on the shore when we saw four Bull Frogs jump into the water at the same time. We kept walking when we started to hear Bull Frogs, and then we started to see them as we heard them. We kept walking and as we went on we kept seeing frogs jumping in the water ahead of us. Another time I caught a skink and my brother thought it as dead. I opened my hand and it jumped on my brother, and it almost went up his shirt and down his pants pants. He started screaming like a little girl while I watched. Amphibians and reptiles Heard/seen • American Bull Frog • Spring Peeper • Blue-Tailed Skink



Jessie M. from Bendedict SE found the Eastern Gartersnake near her basement.

Natalie C. from Prince Frederick SW made a fantastic observation of an Eastern Ratsnake on the prowl, as it hunted for young birds or eggs from this nesting box.

Eastern Ratsnake on the hunt!

Ian H. from Broome's Island CE sent in some photos of some of his observations a Fowler's Toad and an unknown lizard species.

Fowler's Toad from Broome's Island CE

Unknown lizard species from Broome's Island CE

Finally, Abby H. from Prince Frederick SW made some great recordings of Fowler's Toads making their calls from near her home.

The Results are In!

Our preliminary MARA data is in and we've mapped out seventh grade sightings to date.  Check out the links below for each species.  The links will take you to the Scribble Maps website and the map may take a few seconds to load.  If you notice any errors of omission or have any questions about the data, Please contact the CHESPAX office at X2960.

Please note that Upland Chorus Frog and Wood Frog reports are not listed below.  Upland Chorus Frogs do require recorded documentation and have only rarely been recorded in Calvert.  Wood Frogs only vocalize during the late winter and would not expected to be calling during the late spring.

Northern Green Frog

Southern Leopard Frog

Pickerel Frog

Green Treefrog


















Fowler's Toad












Spring Peeper













Eastern Cricket* 
(*name changed from Northern Cricket Frog)













American Toad

Eastern Spadefoot

American Bullfrog

One Student's Experience with the 

MARA Project!

Gabriella F. from Ms. Coggeshall's class at Calvert Middle School made some interesting observations from her home (Prince Frederick SW).  She shares some of her observations below:

I was doing my homework when my dad called me outside from the garage. He told me to come quiet and slow, and naturally, my first though was “my puppy got his head stuck in the porch railings again!” So I walked out and up to my dad.  “What is-” I started to ask, but he cut me off, put his finger to his face and pointed to what I thought was a rock on the side of our front porch. “You really brought me out here to show me a rock?” I asked quizzically. “But” I thought, “at least I don’t have to get my puppy’s head out of the railings!” “NO!” He said defiantly. “Go look.” I walked over and saw this little guy! This is a Cope’s Gray Treefrog. Cope’s Gray Treefrogs have a high trilled call and toepads that act as suction cups and allow them to climb and grip objects. This is a great adaption due to the fact that they like to hang around in trees. As you can see, this little guy was using the toepads to its advantage. That advantage was getting away from the camera!

This is another Cope’s Gray Treefrog that was found in my pool filter. After taking him out of the water and making sure he was alright, we placed him back where he belongs!

This is a Black Rat Snake. They are not poisonous to humans, but if provoked, man do they bite! We found him under our porch, but where afraid my puppy would eat him, so we put him in this bucket so we could put him back into the woods.

This is an Eastern Fence Lizard. My younger brother found this little guy and put him in an open container so that he could look at him for a few minutes, and, don’t worry! We put him back.                  

When I went to listen for frog calls on last Tuesday or 5/22/12, I heard the low ‘rum’ sounds of some bullfrogs and my little Cope’s Gray Treefrogs buddies were trilling out too!

  All right! So here are some questions!

Why are amphibians & reptiles so important?

                One of the biggest jobs of amphibians and reptiles is acting as one of the first indicators to bad air, and bad water. Frogs live in water and we drink water. So when there seems to be a problem with the water, which we can see because of frogs dying off due to water cleanliness and salinity, it shows that the water is not safe for us to drink. Also frogs, as tadpoles, eat algae, which clear the water and allow the sunlight to filter through the water and then the underwater plants are able to get sun. This last job isn’t as important to the environment as it is to us. Frogs eat insects such as mosquitoes and flies. This leads to a nice even amount of pesky insects and leaves the summer days less ‘buggy’.

Why are amphibians disappearing?

 Well, with this, the reasons make us look like pretty bad predators. We are destroying their habitats by bulldozing ‘their’ land to build homes and other establishments. Not only does bulldozing take away their land, but it also is another cause off run off and pollution in the water. Non-native species can also be a big problem. They take the native species land, food, and other needed resources. People hunt and kill frogs, not as much here as other countries though. Illnesses are one other huge impact. Chytrid is one of the worst amphibian skin infections, it kills many and fast.

What actions can we do to help these species?

 We can participate in programs such as MARA to locate frog species, where they live, and try to protect them from harm.  When frog species, especially endangered ones, are located and found in their most desirable place to live, we are able to protect the area from harms such bulldozing, water pollution, and from hunters. We can also use less air harmful pesticides and outdoor sprays. They pollute the air that both we and the frogs breathe. But frogs can’t take all of that harmful air and they get sick and die. One other thing is to not release exotic amphibian pets into the wild.  This causes problems with non-native species, especially invasive ones. Non-native species will come and possibly overtake the native populations. This will lead to less space, food, and water for the native species and more competition between the native and non-native populations.

Herps at Home!


Alert students from Ms. Hayward's class spotted some animals for the Atlas project right in their own backyards!

Evan F. found an American Toad beside his house in Lower Marlboro, CE.  While Austin J. found this well camouflaged Cope's Gray Treefrog near his pool in Bristol, SE.

It is amazing what we can find living right outside our  homes once we start to look.  Keep the pictures coming!

An American Toad from Flint Hill Road!

An American Toad found by Evan F. of Northern Middle

Cope's Gray Treefrogs are more often heard rather than seen.

Austin J. went eye to eye with this Cope's Gray Treefrog in Bristol, SE

Rotten, Rotten, Rotten

Joseph W. from Ms. Deck's class at Plum Point Middle School recorded some great sounds of Green Treefrogs calling near his home (Benedict, CE).  Our training materials describe the treefrogs' call as sounding like they are repeating the phrase "rotten, rotten, rotten".  What do you think that they sound like?

Night of the Spadefoot

Eastern Spadefoots are an unusual toad that spend most of their lives underground, emerging only during the breeding season in late spring on very rainy nights.  This spadefoot was found in a pool in Owings (North Beach, CW after the thunderstorms of last evening.  Several of our seventh grade classes have reported spadefoots from different locations in the county.

Eastern Spadefoot found in North Beach, CW

Note the elliptical pupils on the Spadefoot's eyes.

The small crescent shaped black structure or "spade"on the hind foot is used for digging.

Frog Quiz Time!

CMS seventh grade science teachers Ms. Coggeshall and Ms. Campbell placed a FrogLogger at CMS (Prince Frederick, CW) on the evening of May 23.  Below is a clip with the sounds that were recorded that night at 9:00 p.m.

The logger was placed near the sediment pond in front of t he school.                                                                                  Calvert Middle School is in the Prince Frederick, CW block

Can you name the five different species that can be heard in this recording?  Be the first CCPS teacher to send the correct response to:

Hartent@calvertnet.k12.md.us and you'll win a prize!

A Chorus of Cope's!


The Cope's Gray Treefrogs are singing away right about now.  The CHESPAX staff placed a FrogLogger out in front of the office at King's Landing Park (Lower Marlboro, SE) a couple of nights ago and captured some great sounds of these frogs.  


Spend some time outdoors on a warmish evening and see what you can hear!

More reports from Mill Creek Middle!

Some of Mr. Hendrix' students continue to post some good sightings and have provided photographic documentation of their finds.  Some of these are below.


My name is Walter J. and I found the frog and turtle both in my yard  in Lusby.  The frog was found on 5/16/12 and the turtle on 5/15/12   Block: Solomons Island NW

Eastern Box Turtle from Solomons, NW

Fowler's Toad from a Lusby backyard (Solomons, NW)

Miles H.

Solomons NE

Around 6:30, we found some lizards sunbathing under our deck. I took some pictures, the good ones are attached. This was a Five-lined Skink,  sighted 5/14/2012. 

A Five-lined Skink from Solomons, NE

Brian M.

Lusby, MD 20657  7:56 pm 

Solomons, NE

Eastern Box Turtle

Eastern Box Turtle from Solomons, NE

Herps at our Schools!

Ms. Coggeshall's class from Calvert Middle School (Prince Frederick, CW) made an interesting find while working on the Amphibian and Reptile Atlas unit.  A description of their observation is below:

"We were down in the media center to find out Quad/blocks for my first period class and low and behold two guys were on the door to the courtyard."

Cope's Gray Treefrog on windowsill at Calvert Middle School (Prince Frederick, CW)

The bright yellow legs show up well on the underside of this Cope's Gray Treefrog 

Treefrogs can use their sticky toepads to climb straight up a glass window!

Thanks for sharing these great pictures!

Some South County finds!

Derrice S. from Mr. Hendrix class of Mill Creek Middle School  reported some good finds for the project from the Solomons NE block..

Turtle: Box turtle (not sure of gender) found at 4:30 pm in a trail behind house in pond!

Lizard: common five line skink: female found a couple months ago in woods !

Lizard: Eastern Fence Lizards (not sure of gender) found near water spout on drive beside house!

Front view of Eastern Box Turtle

Top view of Eastern Box Turtle

Common Five-lined Skink

Eastern Fence Lizards

The answer to the frog call quiz in the last post is:
Green Frog, Spring Peeper, Cope's Gray Treefrog, and Southern Leopard Frog

FrogLoggers!

Mr. Hendrix from Mill Creek Middle School (Solomons NW) deployed a FrogLogger near one of the sediment ponds at the school on May 14.  The logger recorded one minute sound segments each half from 7:00 pm until midnight.  There were a lot of frogs calling that night!

If you are a Calvert County seventh grade science teacher and are interested in placing a logger on your schoolyard, please get in touch with the CHESPAX office and we will help you get started.

See how many species you can identify from the recording below!  We will announce the correct answers in the next post.  Hint there are four species that can be heard on this clip.

Snakes Above and Below!

Calvert County is home to a variety of snakes of different shapes and sizes.  On Thursday and Friday of last week a couple of snakes were observed at King's Landing Park that show the striking diversity of our local snake species.  One of the larger snakes native to our county is the Northern Black Racer, these snakes are good climbers and can often be found high up in blackberry bushes and other shrubs in search of their prey.
One of our smaller snake is the Smooth Earth Snake, a snake that is rarely seen since it generally burrows through the forest floor in search of the insects and earthworms that make up their diet.

It is very important that untrained individuals not handle snakes, as even non-venomous snakes will bite when handled improperly.

Northern Black Racer from Lower Marlboro SE

Eastern Smooth Earthsnake from Benedict NE

Like a Plucking a Loose Banjo String!

We often use descriptive terms to help remember the different frog calls that we hear in nature.  One of the common sounds of spring and summer is the Green Frog.  These Green Frogs were recorded in the Lusby backyard of a CHESPAX staff member (Cove Point, CW).  The recording was made with a FrogLogger placed near a water garden.  The falling water sound that you will hear is from the waterfall feature on this pond.  Listen for the Green Frogs calling in the background.

Road Running!

Quite often reptiles and amphibians can be seen crossing roadways throughout Calvert County.  In fact, all too often, these animals are killed or injured by car traffic.  If you are reporting any animals observed on the road, be sure to get an exact location so that the proper MARA block can be linked with your sighting.  Photographs are always helpful too.  Also, be very careful for your own safety anywhere near our busy Calvert County roadways!

This pretty garter snake was observed on May 9, 2012 near King's Landing Park in Huntingtown (Lower Marlboro, SE).  The snake was photographed by CHESPAX staffer, Michelle Daubon.

This gartersnake was seen crossing a road near King's Landing Park  in  Huntingtown.

Reptiles and Amphibians in the News!


Here's an interesting article about the re-introduction of Louisiana pine snakes back into their native habitat.  Scientists bred pine snakes in captivity and hatched the eggs at the Memphis Zoo.  The baby snakes were implanted with tiny transmitters called PIT tags.  The technology will  allow scientists to identify the released snakes upon recapture and to track their movements near the release site.

Louisiana pine snakes are one of the rarest snakes in the United States.  The snakes have declined due to loss of habitat from expanded logging activities in the south.  Restoration of long leaf pine forestland has raised the hopes of bringing back the Louisiana pine snake from the brink of extinction.

The Louisiana pine snake, one of the rarest snake species in the United States.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/05/120507165555.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily%2Ftop_news%2Ftop_environment+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Top+News+--+Top+Environment%29

Reptiles and Amphibians in the News!


The Calvert FrogBlog post on March 13 refers to an article from the Washington Post about the ranavirus that is affecting frogs and turtles in Maryland.  


This article and video clip from the Voice of America website further explores this serious problem.

http://www.voanews.com/english/news/usa/Reptiles-Amphibians-in-US-Succumbing-to-Deadly-Ranavirus-147292065.html?utm_source=May+2012&utm_campaign=BayStat-May2012&utm_medium=email

Reptiles and Amphibians in the News!


Deadly Fungus at work in the wild

The fungal infection that has killed a record number of amphibians worldwide leads to deadly dehydration in frogs in the wild, according to a new study by University of California, Berkeley and San Francisco State University researchers.

Dead southern mountain yellow-legged frogs (Rana muscosa) killed by the chytrid fungus. Sixty Lake Basin, Kings Canyon National Park, California USA. (Credit: Photo by Vance T. Vredenburg)

For the full text of the article go to:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/04/120425193048.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily%2Ftop_news%2Ftop_science+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Top+News+--+Top+Science%29

Our seventh grade students continue to turn up exciting specimens!  This hatchling red-bellied cooter was found by  Mrs. Thames class of Northern Middle School during an April 17 CHESPAX trip to King's Landing Park (Lower Marlboro, SE).  This little turtle may have recently emerged from hibernation as evidenced by the mud covering its plastron or top shell.in the photo below.   It is likely that this little cooter hatched late last summer or early in the fall of 2011.

Hatchling Red-bellied Cooter found by seventh grade students at King's Landing Park  (Lower Marlboro, SE)

Spotted Salamanders are the largest salamander native to Calvert County.  This species is a member of the group known as the "Mole Salamanders", named for their behavior of burrowing into the topsoil and leaf litter in search of earthworms and insects.

On rainy nights in the late winter, these salamanders migrate by the hundreds and even the thousands to small ponds throughout Calvert County to breed.  After mating and laying their eggs (see post from March 13, 2012)  the adult salamanders return to their forest habitat and burrow back into the earth,

Spotted Salamander collected near a home in Lusby, MD (Cove Point, CW) 

Our seventh grade SAV season began today with a visit from Ms. Deck's class from Plum Point Middle School.  Although our target was submerged aquatic vegetation, wildlife sightings are also a part of the data that is gathered by our students.

The sighting of a red-bellied turtle basking near SAV survey marker #2 and that of a green treefrog near the fishing pier are also valuable records for the MARA survey.  These animals both came from the Lower Marlboro, SE block.

Red-bellied Turtle from Cocktown Creek in Huntingtown

This Green Treefrog was found by a Plum Point Middle School  class during their CHESPAX trip