Silflay Hraka

Before I can ascend to the ranks of the official North Carolina Toad Listeners, I have to take an online test where I identify frog and toad calls. You didn’t think they’d let just anyone join, did you? Though the test itself can be gamed–each sound file lists only three options to choose from, one of which can usually be eliminated outright–I’ve chosen the path of the true nature geek, and chosen to not even show the options unless I can identify the call outright.

To help familiarize myself with the calls, I’ve linked each here, where I don’t have to click through three different pages to hear each call. My thanks to the Herps of NC for making it so easy to do. Notes on the call or species will appear after the link as I work my way down.

I know you’ll be enthralled.

Tree Frogs and Their Allies (Family Hylidae)
Northern Cricket Frog (Acris crepitans) Like pebbles being banged together. Electric pebbles. Bullfrog in the background.
Southern Cricket Frog (Acris gryllus) Same pebbles, but the banger has gotten tired.
Pine Barrens Treefrog (Hyla andersonii)
Gray Treefrog (Hyla chrysoscelis)
Gray Treefrog (Hyla versicolor)
Green Tree Frog (Hyla cinerea) Very common around the pool at the camp where I was nature counselor for three years. I fell asleep to this call many a night.
Pine Woods Treefrog (Hyla femoralis) Wooden washboard.
Barking Treefrog (Hyla gratiosa)
Squirrel Treefrog (Hyla squirella)
Brimley’s Chorus Frog (Pseudacris brimleyi)
Spring Peeper (Pseudacris crucifer)
Southern Chorus Frog (Pseudacris nigrita)
Little Grass Frog (Pseudacris ocularis) Small squeaks
Ornate Chorus Frog (Pseudacris ornata) More–very small–cowbell!
Upland Chorus Frog (Pseudacris triseriata) We have these in the swamp behind the house. They number in the millions.

True Frogs (Family Ranidae)
Carolina Gopher Frog (Rana capito)
Bullfrog (Rana catesbeiana) Also a common frog around the camp pool. Green or Bronze frogs in the background.
Green Frog (Rana clamitans melanota) and Bronze Frog (Rana clamitans clamitans) Yes, the call is the same for both. The species page says the call “sounds like the twang of a banjo string.” Maybe, but if so it’s a really flat one.
River Frog (Rana heckscheri) James Earl Jones is in need of a princess. Green Tree Frogs in background
Pickerel Frog (Rana palustris)
Wood Frog (Rana sylvatica) Like Silly Putty rubbbing against….more Silly Putty.
Southern Leopard Frog (Rana utricularia)
Carpenter Frog (Rana virgatipes)

Toads (Family Bufonidae)
American Toad (Bufo americanus) A long musical trill. Spring peepers in background
Oak Toad (Bufo quercicus) Shrill peeping, like chicks. That’s a Fowler’s toad in the background.
Southern Toad (Bufo terrestris) Breathy Trill
Fowler’s Toad (Bufo woodhousii) Vibrating Cellphone on a cookie sheet. Northern Cricket Frogs in the background.

Spadefoot Toads (Family Pelobatidae)
Eastern Spadefoot (Scaphiopus holbrookii)

Narrowmouth Toads (Family Microhylidae)
Eastern Narrowmouth Toad (Gastrophryne carolinensis) They are poor little sheep, who have lost their way, baa, baa, baa.

First Attempt: 12 out of 26
Second Attempt: 22 out of 26, but I was not pure, and viewed the choices prior to picking more than once.

Sainted Wife: Would you quit with the damn frogs already!

Third Attempt: 24 of 29. Tree Frogs are my Larry.

Fourth Attempt: 29 of 29.

Why is it that, the minute I read this article…..

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton has a new commandment for the 2008 presidential field: Thou shalt not mention anything related to the impeachment of her husband.

With a swift response to attacks from a former supporter last week, advisers to the New York Democrat offered a glimpse of their strategy for handling one of the most awkward chapters of her biography. They declared her husband’s impeachment in 1998 — or, more accurately, the embarrassing personal behavior that led to it — taboo, putting her rivals on notice and all but daring other Democrats to mention the ordeal again.

This image popped up in my head?

Continue reading ‘Don’t Mention The War’ »

Man aged 107 forsakes sex for longevity.

Yea, they were pretty bad.

5:56 - I know I promised to live-blog but I did not sign up for this. Taking the hit’s one thing. This is Abu-Ghraib without the cute little chick pointing at my privates.

What else is new?

How Much is That Pony on the Counter?

“That’ll be a bag of toads, mate.”

Tom Hedley, Australia’s biggest private hotel owner and one of Queensland’s richest men, has thrown his support behind plans to introduce a beer-for-a-bag-of-toads bounty. KEN Ritchie never thought he’d see the day a cane toad would be worth its weight in beer, let alone two.

Latest estimates are that there are between 100 and 200 million cane toads in Australia, which means at the standard Queensland “pot” glass size of 285mls, it would take 57 million litres of free beer to wipe out pest - at two toads a bag. But Mr Hedley thinks it will be money well spent.

Postscript: Free no-prize to the first person to identify the error in the post above.