Backyard Nature: The frog serenade

An American toad in Rock Creek Park. (photos by Marlene Berlin)

by Marlene Berlin

I’m afraid, dear readers, that you are subjected to my obsessions. First it was mushrooms. Later, my new backyard bird feeder. Now I have another confession – I am a bit nutty about frogs and toads, especially the spring sound of the Eastern American toad.

They begin their mating serenade in early March, and unlike a symphony that builds to a quick crescendo, it takes the toads through April to build to a mighty roar. Here’s a recording of an American toad, via Friends of Sligo Creek, which has quite a collection of frog calls here.

One American toad provided a solo accompaniment to our dinner on our back deck in mid-April.

But the free concerts by the peepers are the most amazing at Broad Branch Stream around 8:30 in the evening. They do hog the limelight, but you may hear the faint snore of what could be a pickerel (audio), which seems quite shy in making its presence known in the cacophony of the peepers. I recorded this one evening in early April.

If you walk by Broad Branch Stream on the sidewalk, the prelude is performed by the striped chorus frog (audio). Peepers provide the background accompaniment, which crescendos as you walk along the stream going east.

There are signs that all these mating calls are a success. Tadpoles are everywhere.

Tadpoles in Broad Branch stream.