Frog Calls

NEWSLETTER OF CROSST IMBERS CONNECTION

January, 2016

Volume 4, No. 1

Feature Page

Events 2

Field Notes: Our Stories from the Field 3

One of Our Favorites: iNaturalist 4

Species Profile: Spotted chorus frog 6

JANUARY IN THE WOODS

We will get the new year started with a walk at Southwest Nature Preserve in Arlington on January 17 (see page

2). This is a remnant of eastern cross timbers forest that includes a rocky ridge top, trails through oak woodlands, a

small meadow with deep sand and yucca, and several small ponds. It consists of 58 acres, which is enough to “get

lost” in just a little, although nearby houses are visible from the edges of the preserve. Crosstimbers Connection led

a walk there last July that was lots of fun. We started fairly early in the morning to beat the worst of the heat, and

among the participants were people who knew native plants and birds, so we had great conversations as we walked

around the preserve.

This time, on a mid-winter walk, we should see birds and if it is sunny and mild we could see basking turtles and

some cricket frogs. Michael Smith will lead this hike and can talk about how reptiles and amphibians deal with

winter’s cold and where they may hibernate (or “brumate”). We will also talk about the different habitats found

there, including the ponds, the pockets of bluestem grassland, the woods with their oaks, junipers, greenbriars, and

such, as well as the sandy meadow that supports a particular species of ant - the Comanche harvester ant - that

likes deep sand.

We would love to see you there, and if you want to join us, it is very important that you register with us so we can

stay in touch about any possible weather-related changes in schedule. We have had above-average rainfall, the

trails get muddy after rains, and the hill seeps water for a while after the rains are over. We don’t mind a little mud,

but we do not want to churn up the area if it’s quite wet.

Frog Calls January, 2016

Page 2

January k February k March

Winter Events:

(All of our events are free, but the host location may charge an entrance fee – check their website to see if there is a fee.)

Outdoor events are subject to change based on weather - if you have registered by email, we will make every effort to email you if there are any changes to this event. Additionally, you can check our Facebook page.

1/17/16, 1:00-3:00pm n Winter Woods & Ponds n Southwest Nature Preserve, Arlington TX

The preserve is 58 acres of cross timbers (mixed woodland with post oak and blackjack oak) with three ponds. There is also a small, deep-sand meadow with yucca and populations of the Comanche harvester ant. Depending on the weather, we might see frogs or turtles, and we should see birds. You must register with us (see information above) in case of weather-related cancellation. This hike is limited to about 8 people. Minors must be accompanied by an adult. There is no entrance fee. See www.naturallyfun.org/southwest-nature-preserve

Please register for our events by emailing us at: contact@crosstimbersconnection.org

3/19/16, 12:00-3:00pm n Last Day of Winter Hike n Fort Worth Nature Center & Refuge

Say goodbye to winter with a walk at the refuge, somewhere along the miles of trails through cross timbers woodland, prairie, bot-tomland, or marsh. We will choose the specific location depending on the wishes of participants and the weather. You must register with us (see information above) so that we can coordinate specific plans. This hike is limited to 8 people, from elementary school age and up. Minors must be accompanied by an adult. Entrance fee $5/adult, $2/child (free for members of Friends of Fort Worth Nature Center & Refuge), see www.fwnaturecenter.org

Please register for our events by emailing us at: contact@crosstimbersconnection.org

Fort Worth Nature Center & Refuge, December 2004

Frog Calls January, 2016

Page 3

FIELD NOTES: OUR STORIES FROM THE FIELD By Michael Smith

We spend a few hours or a day in the field, and what do we do with the memory of what we experienced? What

do we do with the information contained in our observations? What meanings do we attach to the things we expe-

rienced - was it rare and exciting, soothing, or did it make us think of something else that might be related? One of

the things we can do with our experiences is to record them in field notes. “Field notes” are a kind of journal or

diary of what we saw, heard, and experienced. For some people, field notes are taken in a “just the facts” objective

style, putting down in words what a camera, recorder, thermometer, etc. would have recorded. The information

would fit nicely on a spread-

sheet, with dates, times, spe-

cies names, and so on. For

other people, field notes in-

clude sketches and notes that

read like a story, or even like a

sort of poetry. If you are tak-

ing notes for a science class or

for scientific work, you might

have to record field notes in

the “just the facts” style. Oth-

erwise, the stories, sketches,

and other things might do just

fine.

But why would anyone want to write field notes, anyway? There’s nothing wrong with taking a walk and seeing

trees, birds, maybe a turtle basking in a pond, and then going home without writing down a single thing. However,

I would like you to consider several reasons you might take field notes. Then we’ll talk about what kind of style

might be best for you, assuming that you want to record some field notes. What you record can be a way to:

1. Remember what you saw and heard, and what that was like. In a few years, or maybe in a lot of years, you

might vaguely remember that you visited a particular place or saw a particular species, and wish you could

remember more of the details. Photos help with this, but so can the notes you write. “The air was cool, in the

60s, and the smell of wildflowers was everywhere. The sun was warm and I imagined what a lizard basking on

a boulder might feel like. And at 10:30am, around the next bend of the trail…” That captures something a

photo cannot, and it might bring the experience back long after the details fade from memory.

2. Think through the experience and wondering about things that you may follow up on. One winter I saw a

Carolina wren flitting around in a tangle of downed branches in a bottomland forest. Not being a very experi-

enced birder, I wondered if this was typical habitat for that bird, and whether it often stayed so low to the

ground. Checking on this later, I discovered that wooded tangles are common places where Carolina wrens are

seen, and they often move around in low areas near the ground. Field notes can help us notice details and then

check them out to learn more about something.

3. Contribute to our knowledge of natural history. The world is large and complex, and there will never be

enough scientists to discover everything about it. Volunteers have often contributed observations, data, and

specimens to museums and universities. In recent years, smart phones and internet resources like iNaturalist

A sample of the author’s field notes

Frog Calls January, 2016

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One of Our Favorites!

Here is something you may find useful, inspiring, beautiful, educational, or all of these …

(see above) have opened up enormous possibilities for everyday folks to be citizen scientists by adding scientifi-

cally meaningful observations. Even your observations of common species in ordinary places can be useful,

because if lots of people regularly contribute, researchers can look for changes over time that might suggest the

species is declining or increasing.

Let’s say that at least one of these reasons has convinced you to write field notes. How do you get started? First

you may want to pick the medium you will use, such as a notebook, a smart phone, or some other recording de-

vice like a digital audio recorder. Let’s start with the audio or sound recorder, which has at least two drawbacks.

First is that if you fall in the creek or it gets rained on, all your notes could be lost. The second drawback is that

finding a specific note can be difficult. It is much easier to scan a series of notes on paper than it is to listen to a

series of audio recordings. On the other hand, using voice dictation is sure easy to do while you are “on the go,”

without having to pull out a notebook and pen.

Smart phones can be enormously useful, especially if you use a service like iNaturalist. You can snap a photo, let

the program use the GPS coordinates, date, and time, and then after you add whatever notes about what you saw,

you can upload it. One drawback, and it can be a big one, is that smart phones can run out of battery power, be

dropped in the creek, rained on, stepped on, or fail in other ways. It may help to slip it in a plastic bag with a wa-

terproof seal and stick it in your backpack, but it can still be risky to take an expensive piece of electronics like that

out on a field trip.

iNaturalist - www.inaturalist.org

Let’s say you have seen something out in nature - or in your back yard - and maybe have a photo or at least know

when and where you saw it. You can share that observation with others, including scientists who may be studying

what you saw, on iNaturalist. You go to the website, create a free account, enter your information and share a

photo, if you have one. There is an app for smartphones that will work with the phone’s camera and make it very

easy to share what you saw. If you are not sure what you saw, you can select “need ID help” and others may be

able to help identify it, or confirm your identification. If your photo has “metadata” (date, time, and GPS coordi-

nates) you can allow the program to use that. If you saw something unusual or rare and want to conceal the exact

location from those who might go collect it or harm the habitat, you can choose for the public only to see a general

location, not a specific spot.

There are projects you can contribute observations to, such as our project (www.inaturalist.org/projects/

crosstimbers-connection). Some projects are for very specific places (like Mansfield’s Oliver Nature Park) while

others are statewide. The statewide Herps of Texas project currently has 22,445 observations, contributed by 857

people, and is an important source of information for Texas Parks & Wildlife Department’s citizen science efforts.

If you have not done so yet, check it out! It is a great tool for learning, sharing, and contributing to science.

Field Notes: Our Stories from the Field, continued from page 3

Frog Calls January, 2016

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Stay Connected! … Subscribe on Yahoo Groups or find us on Facebook. Want to stay in touch, so you hear about events early and can share your ideas about the crosstimbers and prai-ries? We have a free subscription email list at Yahoo Groups, and we hope you’ll join. Although anyone can join, memberships need approval and so it’s unlikely you will see spam or off-topic emails. It’s a great way for your voice to be heard, about your favorite places or species, experiences you’ve had, and what you’d like to see from us. To join, email crosstimbers-subscribe@yahoogroups.com and we will get you on the list! We would also love for you to visit our Facebook page, at www.facebook.com/CrosstimbersConnection . Please “like” our page and feel free to post your thoughts there!

The old-fashioned way to take field notes is with a paper notebook. A quick search of the Internet will reveal water

-resistant notebooks, fancy notebooks, and a line of plain and functional 48-page notebooks called “Field Notes.”

It is best to consider the size that works best for you and how much you may need to protect if from moisture.

Some of us want more room on a page than is provided in a pocket-sized notebook, but it helps if the book is small

enough to easily put in a section of a backpack or bag. I do not use a ring binder because it’s too bulky, but a wire-

bound or book-style notebook is fine. While some may prefer pencils, it is not hard to find good, fade-resistant and

water-resistant pens.

Here are some of the elements of traditional, natural science

based field notes:

1. Species - such as “Great blue heron, Ardea herodias” and

perhaps the age class and sex, such as “adult, unknown

sex”

2. Date & time - such as 12/12/2015, 10:00am

3. Location - such as “Tarrant County, TX, Oliver Nature

Park, GPS 32°587 / 97°102

4. Habitat - such as “pond in wooded area near Walnut

Creek”

5. Weather - such as “67°F, cloudy and windy”

6. Behavior - such as “initially standing in water, then took

flight”

Make the notes work for the purpose you want, such as to

preserve a memory, wonder about questions that may spur

more learning, as well as contribute to citizen science. Feel

free to add extra notes and impressions. Tell your story in as much detail as you want, or give “just the facts.” As

long as you can read it and can understand your notes later on, don’t worry about making them perfectly neat.

Sometimes a field notes entry is not about a particular species that you spotted. You might make notes about the

condition of a creek during a drought and after rain. Last year I took notes on a couple of dates and in a couple of

locations, measuring the temperature several inches under the soil as well as at the surface. I wanted to explore the

Field Notes: Our Stories from the Field, continued from page 4

Frog Calls January, 2016

Page 6

Field Notes: Our Stories from the Field, continued from page 5

principle that soil, rocks, and wood served as insulation from temperature extremes, and thus provide a winter ref-

uge for reptiles and amphibians.

A good source of ideas about the different ways one can take and use field notes is the blog titled, “The Happy

Naturalist” (www.happynaturalist.com/). Particularly on her “FieldNotesFriday” page, naturalist Erin Taylor en-

courages us to take field notes in whatever way works for us, with benefits including getting outside more, enjoy-

ing the experience more richly, making more insightful observations, and sharing with others. She offers good per-

spectives for us to consider: be creative and make field notes work for us (not the other way around).

I hope you find a way of keeping field notes that works for you, because your time in the field is valuable. Your

notes have value both for you, to enhance your experience and memory, as well as for others, as data that can help

all of us understand the natural world better.

SPECIES

PROFILE Spotted chorus frog

Pseudacris clarkii

Texas winters can be cold, with biting winds and the

occasional ice storm. But Texas winters are often

like the tiny north Texas towns of Santo or Venus –

you see them coming down the road, but if you blink

twice you’ve missed them. And so, by February we

often have sunny days where a naturalist’s thoughts

turn to springtime. Those earliest sunny days remind

us that life and color will return to the fields and

woods.

Typically in late winter and early spring, it rains of-

ten and water collects in low places. As the days get

a little longer and the land gets wetter, the prairie night gets a new voice. Where there are a few inches of collected

water, spotted chorus frogs gather in the darkness and call with a sound like running your thumb over the teeth of

a comb. The sound is quite loud for a frog of such small size. As the frogs brace against prairie grasses in the shal-

low water, the throats of the males expand into an air-filled sac and call “wrret…wrret…wrret” to nearby females.

Spotted chorus frogs are among the small and easily overlooked amphibians of our area, but they are beautiful ani-

mals with interesting lifestyles.

By Michael Smith

Frog Calls January, 2016

Page 7

Classification

This is one of a number of chorus frogs in the genus Pseudacris, including Strecker’s chorus frog and the upland

chorus frog (both species are found in our area along with the spotted chorus frog). All are small frogs in the family

Hylidae that includes treefrogs, cricket frogs, and others.

Description

The spotted chorus frog is a slender little amphibian about an inch long. Green spots are scattered in an irregular

pattern along the back and head, and the green is edged in black. A green spot occurs on the top of the head be-

tween the eyes, sometimes in the shape of a triangle. The back legs are long, for quick jumps. The skin generally

appears smooth but when seen very close up, the surface of the skin has a warty texture.

Habitat

This frog’s typical habitat is grasslands

and prairies. One breeding site, where

both spotted and Strecker’s chorus frogs

were heard breeding, was along a Parker

County roadside where rainwater had

collected in a depression to a depth of

about 8 inches. The surrounding area is

rolling prairie crossed with small streams.

When you think about it, it’s amazing to

find animals whose lives are so dependent

on water living successfully in places that

get so dry during part of the year. The

north Texas prairies get winter and spring

rains but tend to go through a drought in

late summer. Streams and ponds dry up,

and the ground becomes dry and surface

vegetation dies back. At those times, the frogs and toads must hide in deep, protected spaces. Fortunately, the

winter and spring rains bring the frogs back to the prairie each year, and the nights sing once again with the calls of

these little amphibians.

Prey

As an adult, the spotted chorus frog eats insects and other small invertebrates. Some references to other Pseudacris

species mention them eating invertebrates that live both in and out of the water.

Behavior

As spring advances and temperatures rise, the breeding period ends for chorus frogs. They move about and feed at

night, but the breeding calls of these frogs are less frequently heard. We don’t know a great deal about their life

histories during the warm, dry months. What is clear is that chorus frogs are able to burrow down into crevices in

limestone outcrops and spaces in the prairie soil to escape the heat and drought of summer.

Species Profile: Spotted chorus frog, continued from page 6

The Parker County breeding location

Frog Calls January, 2016

Page 8

We take people out into the woods and prairies, looking for reptiles, amphibians, and other wildlife. We also give presentations to bring the woods and wildlife to the people with slides, stories, and animals. Additionally, we publish Frog Calls and the Post Oak & Prairie Journal to bring the natural places in north Texas to life in print and photos. We do all this without charging anything (but we gladly accept tax-deductible contributions to keep us going). We are a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Please visit us on the web at www.crosstimbersconnection.org, and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/CrosstimbersConnection.

Connecting people with nature in north Texas

Most frogs have moist skin and can lose water through evaporation rather quickly. Unlike the scaly protective

skin of reptiles, liquids can pass fairly easily through frog skin. When their surroundings are dry, frogs can try to

limit how much water they lose by crouching and minimizing how much skin is exposed to the air. If they cannot

protect themselves from dehydration, the frogs die. Burrowing is a great way to protect from drying out, because it

limits contact with dry air and by digging deep enough the frog may reach damp soil.

When the rains come, do the frogs drink? Oddly enough, frogs and toads get most of their water by directly ab-

sorbing it through the skin. A frog sitting in water may be replenishing its water supply.

Reproduction

As noted earlier, the breeding call of male spotted chorus frogs sounds like quickly running your thumb over the

teeth of a comb. Depending on temperature, it may be a series of quick “wrret-wrret-wrret” sounds (when it is

warmer) or it may be somewhat slower on colder nights. The purpose of the call is to advertise the male’s availa-

bility to nearby females and to establish territory during breeding. As with other frogs that use temporary pools for

breeding, the spotted chorus frog would be considered an “explosive breeder,” meaning that when conditions are

suitable, a great deal of breeding behavior begins abruptly. A male begins calling at night, and this triggers other

nearby males to begin calling. Females are then attracted to suitable males.

When females find calling males, the male gets onto the female’s back and hooks his front legs under her to hold

on. This behavior, called amplexus, allows him to fertilize the female’s eggs as they are laid in the water. Small egg

masses are attached to grass stems or other objects at or below the surface of the water. The eggs are clear with a

small dark center in each one. Once eggs are laid, a race begins between the development of eggs and tadpoles and

the evaporation of the pool. The eggs must grow for a while and produce tadpoles, while sunny or windy days

speed the evaporation of the water. Tadpoles appear and begin to eat the algae and other plant matter in the

shrinking puddles, and if they don’t metamorphose into froglets soon enough, they die on the drying mud of what

was the breeding pool.

Abundance

In the right habitat at the right time of year, this frog may be fairly common. However, it is vulnerable because of

habitat loss, and it is on the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department’s “black list,” meaning that it cannot be collected

for commercial purposes.

(An earlier version of this article appeared in the Cross Timbers Herpetologist, February 2005)

Species Profile: Spotted chorus frog, continued from page 7