Frogs and Toads

Last night was the third and final frog and toad survey.  This means the 2014 frog and toad season is over and I am allowed to forget the frog calls until next April.  Kinda sad that it's over already.  We had good weather.  The breeze kept the mosquitoes at bay at most of the stops.  But at some spots the mosquitoes were so thick we were almost scared to get out of the car.  I had a headnet to wear.  I looked dorky as heck in my bib overalls, orange headnet and thick orange shirt but the only mosquito bites I got were on my hands.  We heard tree frogs most frequently.  We heard green frogs sing their song that sounds like a loose banjo string at several stops.  And we heard a mink frog at one stop.  One person in our group had never been herping before so that was fun to have her along.  The fireflies put on a majestic show.  We heard veerys calling and lots of red winged blackbirds.  Some kind of creature called right close to the ditch where we were standing.  I don't know what that was but it sounded close and I backed up a few feet.  I suspected it was a mammal but it might have been a rail (bird that lives in the slew).  But in the dark on a deserted gravel road I didn't want to take any chances that what ever it was would come out and bite my foot.  Aside from the fears and the mosquitoes it was a good night to be outside in the dark, admiring the stars and the fire flies and seeing what I could hear.