Re: Chorus Frogs
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Fred Schueler
Apr 23, 2025, 11:18:14 AM4/23/25
to Eastern Ontario Natural History listserve, David Seburn, Jeffrey Ethier
On 4/23/2025 8:58 AM, David Seburn wrote:
> Have you had a chance to do any surveys for CF this spring?
> I was out on Sun and yesterday afternoon surveying some of our known
> sites around Dunrobin and Dwyer Hill Rd. Heard CF at almost all of the
> sites I visited, despite some windy conditions.
> This might be a good yr for CF or I just got lucky in the sites I visited.
* we've had interruptions, wood-froggy mandates, and unwellness and
haven't gotten out on any long distance surveys, but what strikes us
around home is the big choruses at the core populations, and the lack of
calling at the peripheral sites, especially in the village here.
After the sopping wet summer in 2024, we expected lots of dispersal to
peripheral sites (including across-the-road from here), but the dry
October seems to have prevented that kind of dispersal. Not only do we
not have any Chorus Frog calling near the village, but there's also no
nearby Peeper calling (except one that seemed to be calling from a
neighbour's yard for one night), despite there having been quite a lot
of Peeper calling near the houses last summer. I append the abstract of
our 2013 talk about this - I suppose I should get the weather data to
update it.
What experience have others on the list had? Are there other places
where core populations are calling well, but peripheral sites are
unoccupied?
fred.
------------------------------------------------------------
Frederick W. Schueler & Aleta Karstad
Fragile Inheritance Natural History - https://fragileinheritance.ca/
2024 annual letter: https://clt1233162.bmeurl.co/11E63979
6 St-Lawrence Street Bishops Mills, RR#2 Oxford Station, Ontario K0G 1T0
on the Smiths Falls Limestone Plain 44.87156° N 75.70095° W
------------------------------------------------------------
Schueler, Frederick W., & Aleta Karstad. 2013. Preliminary Results: Do
dry springs and moist Augusts favour Chorus Frogs in Bishops Mills,
Ontario? platform presentation, Canadian Amphibian and Reptile
Conservation Network, 23rd annual meeting, Centre d'Arts Orford, Orford,
Quebec, Sept 13-16 2013. ABSTRACT: We moved to Bishops Mills, in
eastern Ontario (44.8716N 75.7009W) in 1979, and heard Chorus Frogs
(Pseudacris triseriata/maculata) calling every spring we were home until
1993. From 1994-2007 the species was present a couple of km away, but
was not heard in regular “backyard” March-July listening from our
houses; this was part of a general decline in populations of the
brown-maculata populations that led to their COSEWIC status of
“Threatened.” We heard Chorus Frogs from home once in 2008, three times
in 2009, and once in 2010. They have not been heard in 2011-2013, but
we've been in the field elsewhere for extended periods in 2012 and 2013.
A preliminary analysis suggests that our impression that the revival
occurred in years of wet summers, when dispersal to new sites would be
possible, is confirmed by Environment Canada data: during the revival of
calling August rainfall was 80.5mm, nearly back to the 92.9mm average of
the years of regular presence, from the 55.2mm recorded during the years
of absence. April precipitation showed a similar pattern: 82.6mm during
regular presence, 65.4mm during absence, and 91.9mm during the revival,
not supporting an idea that Chorus Frogs might be favoured over Peepers
(P. crucifer) in dry springs because they hibernate nearer to the
breeding ponds. Broken metapopulation structure is recognized as one of
the causes of the species decline, and it should be possible to use
atlassing data and multivariate consideration of the weather data to
extend this analysis to the whole range of the species in Ontario and
Quebec.
> Have you had a chance to do any surveys for CF this spring?
> I was out on Sun and yesterday afternoon surveying some of our known
> sites around Dunrobin and Dwyer Hill Rd. Heard CF at almost all of the
> sites I visited, despite some windy conditions.
> This might be a good yr for CF or I just got lucky in the sites I visited.
* we've had interruptions, wood-froggy mandates, and unwellness and
haven't gotten out on any long distance surveys, but what strikes us
around home is the big choruses at the core populations, and the lack of
calling at the peripheral sites, especially in the village here.
After the sopping wet summer in 2024, we expected lots of dispersal to
peripheral sites (including across-the-road from here), but the dry
October seems to have prevented that kind of dispersal. Not only do we
not have any Chorus Frog calling near the village, but there's also no
nearby Peeper calling (except one that seemed to be calling from a
neighbour's yard for one night), despite there having been quite a lot
of Peeper calling near the houses last summer. I append the abstract of
our 2013 talk about this - I suppose I should get the weather data to
update it.
What experience have others on the list had? Are there other places
where core populations are calling well, but peripheral sites are
unoccupied?
fred.
------------------------------------------------------------
Frederick W. Schueler & Aleta Karstad
Fragile Inheritance Natural History - https://fragileinheritance.ca/
2024 annual letter: https://clt1233162.bmeurl.co/11E63979
6 St-Lawrence Street Bishops Mills, RR#2 Oxford Station, Ontario K0G 1T0
on the Smiths Falls Limestone Plain 44.87156° N 75.70095° W
------------------------------------------------------------
Schueler, Frederick W., & Aleta Karstad. 2013. Preliminary Results: Do
dry springs and moist Augusts favour Chorus Frogs in Bishops Mills,
Ontario? platform presentation, Canadian Amphibian and Reptile
Conservation Network, 23rd annual meeting, Centre d'Arts Orford, Orford,
Quebec, Sept 13-16 2013. ABSTRACT: We moved to Bishops Mills, in
eastern Ontario (44.8716N 75.7009W) in 1979, and heard Chorus Frogs
(Pseudacris triseriata/maculata) calling every spring we were home until
1993. From 1994-2007 the species was present a couple of km away, but
was not heard in regular “backyard” March-July listening from our
houses; this was part of a general decline in populations of the
brown-maculata populations that led to their COSEWIC status of
“Threatened.” We heard Chorus Frogs from home once in 2008, three times
in 2009, and once in 2010. They have not been heard in 2011-2013, but
we've been in the field elsewhere for extended periods in 2012 and 2013.
A preliminary analysis suggests that our impression that the revival
occurred in years of wet summers, when dispersal to new sites would be
possible, is confirmed by Environment Canada data: during the revival of
calling August rainfall was 80.5mm, nearly back to the 92.9mm average of
the years of regular presence, from the 55.2mm recorded during the years
of absence. April precipitation showed a similar pattern: 82.6mm during
regular presence, 65.4mm during absence, and 91.9mm during the revival,
not supporting an idea that Chorus Frogs might be favoured over Peepers
(P. crucifer) in dry springs because they hibernate nearer to the
breeding ponds. Broken metapopulation structure is recognized as one of
the causes of the species decline, and it should be possible to use
atlassing data and multivariate consideration of the weather data to
extend this analysis to the whole range of the species in Ontario and
Quebec.
Fred Schueler
Apr 25, 2025, 7:59:35 AM4/25/25
to natur...@googlegroups.com
On 4/23/2025 11:18 AM, Fred Schueler wrote:
> After the sopping wet summer in 2024, we expected lots of dispersal to
> peripheral sites (including across-the-road from here), but the dry
> October seems to have prevented that kind of dispersal. Not only do we
> not have any Chorus Frog calling near the village, but there's also no
> nearby Peeper calling (except one that seemed to be calling from a
> neighbour's yard for one night), despite there having been quite a lot
> of Peeper calling near the houses last summer.
* and this continued last night with choruses of Peepers so distant that
> After the sopping wet summer in 2024, we expected lots of dispersal to
> peripheral sites (including across-the-road from here), but the dry
> October seems to have prevented that kind of dispersal. Not only do we
> not have any Chorus Frog calling near the village, but there's also no
> nearby Peeper calling (except one that seemed to be calling from a
> neighbour's yard for one night), despite there having been quite a lot
> of Peeper calling near the houses last summer.
at first I couldn't hear them, since they were swamped by the choruses
of the also-distant Toads. We hadn't heard any wood Frogs from home, and
they're nearly finished in the places where they bred. It's as if all
the little wetlands nearby were blighted by the dry October.
Lots of Toads calling everywhere, and Leopard Frogs calling in good
numbers in Limerick Forest.
rmb...@istar.ca
Apr 25, 2025, 9:21:15 AM4/25/25
to natur...@googlegroups.com
I haven't heard any toads here yet, just peepers and a few chorus
frogs. I have heard no wood frogs, it's confirming my thoughts that
they are calling every 2 years instead of every year. I need to get
out to the laneway pond in the evenings to confirm that. I've just
been too tired to hop in the truck at night and go out to the pond,
I'm missing the salamander dance again this year.
So far I've only found one blue spotted salamander, I'll have to go
turn some boards further afield. This week I've had a green frog and a
leopard frog out on the walkway at night. This week is warming up,
should be seeing more critters out and about. Yesterday when we came
back from town there were many painted turtles on logs in the roadside
ponds on Billy Green Rd., and I stopped to move a BIG Blandings turtle
off the road, will have to upload a photo from my cellphone. My
handspan is 22.5 cm (I wear men's large sized gloves), the turtle's
shell was a couple of cm longer. I moved it off the road, it already
has an old healed-over injury at the front part of the shell.
While we were in Kingston yesterday I had the truck window open, as we
passed the industrial park area on Dalton Ave. I could hear a couple
loud choruses of chorus frogs. So good to hear birdsong and froggy
choruses after this loooong winter!
Rose-Marie, north of Perth Road Village
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frogs. I have heard no wood frogs, it's confirming my thoughts that
they are calling every 2 years instead of every year. I need to get
out to the laneway pond in the evenings to confirm that. I've just
been too tired to hop in the truck at night and go out to the pond,
I'm missing the salamander dance again this year.
So far I've only found one blue spotted salamander, I'll have to go
turn some boards further afield. This week I've had a green frog and a
leopard frog out on the walkway at night. This week is warming up,
should be seeing more critters out and about. Yesterday when we came
back from town there were many painted turtles on logs in the roadside
ponds on Billy Green Rd., and I stopped to move a BIG Blandings turtle
off the road, will have to upload a photo from my cellphone. My
handspan is 22.5 cm (I wear men's large sized gloves), the turtle's
shell was a couple of cm longer. I moved it off the road, it already
has an old healed-over injury at the front part of the shell.
While we were in Kingston yesterday I had the truck window open, as we
passed the industrial park area on Dalton Ave. I could hear a couple
loud choruses of chorus frogs. So good to hear birdsong and froggy
choruses after this loooong winter!
Rose-Marie, north of Perth Road Village
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>
Naomi Langlois-Anderson
Apr 28, 2025, 3:02:51 PM4/28/25
to natur...@googlegroups.com, David Seburn, Jeffrey Ethier
Just a quick note to say we have had luck hearing them at Snake Island Road property near Metcalfe, and also a new property we recently acquired at the Charleville Wetland, in Augusta Twp. We have some recordings.
Regards,
Naomi
-----Original Message-----
From: natur...@googlegroups.com <natur...@googlegroups.com> On Behalf Of Fred Schueler
Sent: April 23, 2025 11:18 AM
To: Eastern Ontario Natural History listserve <natur...@googlegroups.com>
Cc: David Seburn <Dav...@cwf-fcf.org>; Jeffrey Ethier <jeth...@uottawa.ca>
Subject: [NatureList] Re: Chorus Frogs
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38 Victoria Street, Box 29, Finch, ON K0C 1K0
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Our local environment, we're in it together.
Notre environnement local, protégeons-le ensemble.
SNC2018!
Regards,
Naomi
-----Original Message-----
From: natur...@googlegroups.com <natur...@googlegroups.com> On Behalf Of Fred Schueler
Sent: April 23, 2025 11:18 AM
To: Eastern Ontario Natural History listserve <natur...@googlegroups.com>
Cc: David Seburn <Dav...@cwf-fcf.org>; Jeffrey Ethier <jeth...@uottawa.ca>
Subject: [NatureList] Re: Chorus Frogs
External email - if you don't know or can't confirm the identity of the sender, please exercise caution and do not open links or attachments.
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38 Victoria Street, Box 29, Finch, ON K0C 1K0
Tel: 613-984-2948 or 1-877-984-2948 | Fax: 613-984-2872
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Our local environment, we're in it together.
Notre environnement local, protégeons-le ensemble.
SNC2018!
Fred Schueler
Apr 28, 2025, 4:49:32 PM4/28/25
to natur...@googlegroups.com
On 4/28/2025 3:02 PM, Naomi Langlois-Anderson wrote:
> Just a quick note to say we have had luck hearing them at Snake Island Road property near Metcalfe, and also a new property we recently acquired at the Charleville Wetland, in Augusta Twp. We have some recordings.
* I wonder how the Snake Island Road site relates to our Bank Street
> Just a quick note to say we have had luck hearing them at Snake Island Road property near Metcalfe, and also a new property we recently acquired at the Charleville Wetland, in Augusta Twp. We have some recordings.
auditions:
5 May 2015 - Canada: Ontario: Ottawa-Carleton Region: Highway 31, 4.40
km SE Vernon. (25m waypoint), 45.13775° N 75.41644° W TIME: 2338-2347.
AIR TEMP: 12°C, clear, calm. HABITAT: roadside ditches/tilled
field/brushy woods. OBSERVER: Frederick W. Schueler, Aleta Karstad
Schueler. 2015/096/fa, Pseudacris 'brown-maculata'
(GreatLakes-StLawrence Chorus Frog) 1 calling for a while from roadside
ditch W of road, full Moon. Loud traffic noise. Drove back here to
replicate the driveby audition of this species - FWS15Apr272252/a.
6 May 2018 - moved 974m SSE - Stormont, Dundas & Glengarry Cos: Highway
31, 5.31 km SE Vernon. (25m waypoint), 45.13021° N 75.41013° W TIME:
2228-2230. AIR TEMP: 13°C, light overcast, Beaufort light breeze.
HABITAT: narrow Typha roadside ditch along tilled fields. OBSERVER:
Frederick W. Schueler, Clay Shearer. 2018/075/h, Pseudacris
'brown-maculata' (GreatLakes-StLawrence Chorus Frog) WAYPT/126, call
heard from ditch E of road as we drove by. - no calling after we stopped.
7 May 2018 - 4.40 km SE Vernon. (100m auditory station), 45.13775° N
75.41644° W TIME: 2237-2252. AIR TEMP: 13°C, light overcast, Beaufort
gentle breeze. HABITAT: roadside ditches/tilled field/brushy woods.
OBSERVER: Frederick W. Schueler, Clay Shearer. 2018/075/ic, Pseudacris
'brown-maculata' (GreatLakes-StLawrence Chorus Frog) (herp). 1 bout of
loud calling W of road, loud traffic noise.
It's good the Chorus Frogs are on both tracts, and won't need to be
introduced.
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