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Let's Play Name That Frog

Tribune photo by ROBERT BURKE

Lance Arvidson holds a small green squirrel tree frog at the Frog Listening Outing and Walk at Flatwoods Wilderness Park. The park played host for an evening to learn about all the species found in Florida, then people walked into the night listening for various frog calls.

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By YVETTE C. HAMMETT

The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 3, 2008

THONOTOSASSA - Equipped with a quick lesson on listening and a flashlight, 10-year-old Megan Birnholz wandered into the darkness with 40 or so folks of like mind.

Their purpose: identify, with their ears, as many frog species as they could.

Although her lesson had been on frog listening, it was Megan's keen eye and her flashlight that hit pay dirt.

Thirty minutes or so into her walk Friday night with a group of frog experts and novices like her, she spotted the elusive spade-footed toad.

"This is, literally, only the second one I've ever seen," herpetologist Lance Arvidson told Megan, walking along the loop at Flatwoods Wilderness Park off U.S. 301. The Lithia girl found the tiny toad just a foot or so off the paved loop.

A few minutes later, her eyes peeled, Megan found a member of Florida's largest toad species along the roadside: the Southern toad, one commonly found in local gardens.

"These kids are amazing," Arvidson commented, leading the pack along the trail on a moonless night. "I could just turn this whole thing over to them."

Arvidson spoke to about 120 people, including a number of families, as part of the Hillsborough River Watershed Alliance's Frog Listening Network, devised to help scientists gauge the health of the ecosystem. The Tampa Audubon Society sponsored the event.

"We have two purposes," network chairman David Sumpter said. "Education and management."

Like birders, "froggers" go out on rainy nights and listen for frogs. After studying their various calls, they become proficient in identifying specific species, such as the green tree frog, the Southern Leopard frog, the gopher frog and others.

"Frogs are like the canaries in the coal mine," Sumpter said. When a canary dies in the coal mine, he explained, that means poisonous gas is present and it's time for the miners to get out.

"If something happens to the frogs and toads," Arvidson said, "it's a sign something could be going on in the uplands or the wetlands."

Katie Laughridge of Lutz brought her two grandsons, Julian Derrah, 6, and Christian Laughridge, 4, who busied themselves with frog finger puppets while she listened.

"I know we've got Cuban tree frogs at our house," Laughridge said, after learning that the nonnative species are decimating native frog populations. "They're eating all the good guys."

Kathleen Hand of Zephyrhills, who raised two Eagle Scouts and spent years camping in the wilderness, said she felt the need to go a little wild.

"I haven't had enough nature in my life lately," Hand said. "So, I figured, 'Why not?'"

For the Blevins family of Tampa, it was all about giving the youngsters a taste of the outdoors, away from the city, father Gary Blevins said. He and his wife, Diane, brought Reed, 8, and Skylar, 9, to the outing to experience nature at night for the first time.

Even if those attending don't decide to become members of the Frog Listening Network, the experience is educational, Sumpter said.

"They can hear frogs in the local pond or river every night. It's kind of fun to know what they are."

Reporter Yvette C. Hammett can be reached at (813) 865-1566 or yhammett@tampatrib.com.

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