Frog and Toad Survey #1

Four of us went on the frog and toad survey last night.  Three of us were experienced and was one a newcomer to the skill of listening in the dark, out in the middle of no where, for frogs and toads.  We heard frogs and toads at every stop.  We heard 3 species of frogs - spring peepers, chorus frogs, and one lonely wood frog.  The weather was cold but lucky for us the wind died down as the sun set and the many stars came out.  A sliver of a moon set in the middle of our survey.  At some stops the frogs would talk quite a bit and as the 5 minute listening session went on, they would become quieter or even silent.  The frogs weren't as loud as they sometimes are either.   The chorus frog sounds like a finger running up the teeth of a comb.  Because of the cold, the time between each tooth of the comb got longer and longer.  Sometimes the chorus frog would even stop before the end of the comb.  Too cold to continue I guess.   We heard barred owls at 3 of our stops.  At the 6th stop the air reeked of skunk when we got out of the car.  I tried breathing through my mouth instead of my nose and that helped or else I just got used to the stench.  We were immediately distracted from the nasty smell by the howling of a loon that sounded wolfish at first.  Three loons started calling loudly and using a variety of vocalizations.  It was crazy.  This was a very heated loon discussion that went on and on for a full 3 minutes.  By the 8th stop most of the clouds had cleared out and the sky was loaded with so many more stars than I can usually see.   So we heard frogs which was great. We also heard loons, owls and geese.  And not a single mosquito bothered us.  The roads were fairly decent. We drove through a couple soft spots but we found no frost boils.  We really missed our usual frog listening expert but we brought her photo along so she could be with us in spirit.