We are fortunate to be able to hear the Spring-time chorus of frogs from our home every April and May. It’s magical! And it is becoming more rare, as many species of amphibians world-wide are now endangered. Due to habitat loss, covering over of wetlands, possibly also to climate change, and for other, unknown reasons, frogs are vanishing.
On May 2nd of this year, with an almost full moon shining above us, we followed the lovely sound of the frog songs to their source, near Pacific Spirit Park. These are PACIFIC CHORUS FROGS, Pseudacris regilla, also known as PACIFIC TREE FROGS. Apparently they are not considered at risk or threatened here in B.C. But with the rapid “development” going on in our area, many of the choruses have gone quiet.
Last year, I watched as a back-hoe destroyed a boggy, treed piece of land at UBC, readying it for a condo development. I had heard frogs there in the past.
What can we do to help them? Here are a few suggestions I received from Monica M. Pearson, R.P. Bio, of Balance Ecological:
1. Documentation: In B.C., the Frog Watch program gives B.C. residents an opportunity to get their sightings into the Provincial databases. Let them know when and where you hear frogs.
http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/wld/frogwatch/frogwatching
2. Retain or restore frog habitat: frogs need ponds to breed in and plants to hide in.
3. Our own yards can be maintained as habitat: maintain a diversity of plants at a diversity of scale. Fishless water features and ponds will help.
4. Encourage politicians to support the creation of frog habitats in new developments.
5. “Amphibian Crossings” can be built on roads known to be frog migration routes when new roads go in.
Other websites to check out:
http://www.protectbiodiversity.ca
I hope you will enjoy listening to the following songs of the Pacific Chorus Frogs (Pseudacris regilla), also known as Pacific Tree Frogs, which we recorded on the 2nd of May, 2015, here in Vancouver.
Joie du Soleil 