frogs

Celebrate Amphibian Week With Knowledge, Action

May 5, 2026 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Amphibian Week occurs during the first full week in May and was created to raise awareness about these creatures which are severely threatened and are currently the most threatened vertebrate class globally.

A 2023 global assessment found that 40.7% of all amphibian species are threatened with extinction. The crisis is driven by habitat loss, pollution, and increasing impacts from climate change, with roughly two in five species at risk. [Read more…] about Celebrate Amphibian Week With Knowledge, Action

Why Do Frogs Cross the Road?

April 3, 2026 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

In spring, when temperatures rise above 40 degrees Fahrenheit and usher in gentle rains, a plethora of life emerges from the forest. Last year, I went out on such a night to catch the spring migration of amphibians. I could feel the rain coming before it hit the ground.

Cold damp air sank through my rain gear as I donned my reflective vest and walked the length of North Lincoln Street in Keene, New Hampshire. My headlamp was the only source of light on the dark, empty street. [Read more…] about Why Do Frogs Cross the Road?

Preparing for Amphibian Migrations; Volunteers Sought

January 28, 2026 by Editorial Staff 1 Comment

Beneath the towering trees of New York State, under the leaves and rotting logs, lives a group of amphibians. Nocturnal in their behavior and hunkered down in underground retreats, forest salamanders often go undetected – until they move on rainy nights in large numbers for their annual breeding migrations to vernal pools.

Along with wood frogs, these amphibians encounter many roads that bisect their habitat, and in some places, they also encounter volunteers who lend a hand to provide safe passage. You can be one of the those volunteers. [Read more…] about Preparing for Amphibian Migrations; Volunteers Sought

Vernal Pools on the Rensselaer Plateau

April 27, 2025 by Guest Contributor 1 Comment

Winter lingers long on the Rensselaer Plateau. The snow piles deep, muffling the landscape in an icy hush, and the trees stand still in their frozen slumber. But as the days lengthen and the sun begins its slow work of softening the land, the transformation begins.

The snow melts, trickling down into the forest floor, pooling in low spots, carving out secret, glistening pockets of water between the trees. These pools, often small and shallow, are the first sign of life returning to the woods. [Read more…] about Vernal Pools on the Rensselaer Plateau

Ed Kanze’s Nature of the Place Reflects on Adirondack Flora and Fauna

April 14, 2025 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

The Nature of the Place: On the Flora and Fauna of the Adirondacks (North Country Books, 2025) is Adirondack nature writer Edward Kanze’s invitation to slow down, smell the roses, and get to know fellow creatures with more longstanding claims to this landscape than we have.

Theirs is the real internet Kanze argues, a web of life that weaves together an almost infinite number of threads into a fabric that’s a wonder to behold and something close to a miracle in a largely hostile universe. [Read more…] about Ed Kanze’s Nature of the Place Reflects on Adirondack Flora and Fauna

Vernal Pools: Nursery for Amphibians, Buffet for Predators

April 11, 2025 by Guest Contributor 1 Comment

When the winter snow melts and the spring rain begins, vernal pools appear on the landscape. These ephemeral wetlands form in depressions in forests or ridge lines and offer essential breeding habitat to amphibians and invertebrates, including wood frogs, spotted salamanders, and fairy shrimp.

Because vernal pools dry up in high summer and are disconnected from other waterways, fish cannot survive in them – making them uniquely attractive to many amphibian and invertebrate species. [Read more…] about Vernal Pools: Nursery for Amphibians, Buffet for Predators

Tree Cavities: Prime Real Estate for Wildlife

March 14, 2025 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

Tree cavities are a precious commodity for wildlife. It has been estimated that about one-fourth of northeastern forest wildlife species need trees with cavities.

Some cavities are excavated by birds while others are created by decay and broken branches. Trees with cavities are used by wildlife for nesting and raising young, protection from predators, a place to store food, hibernation, and roosting. [Read more…] about Tree Cavities: Prime Real Estate for Wildlife

Iroquois National Wildlife Refuge: A Hidden Gem in Western New York

January 10, 2025 by George Cassidy Payne Leave a Comment

Nestled between Rochester and Buffalo, Iroquois National Wildlife Refuge (INWR) stands as one of the best-kept secrets of Western New York. This serene haven, spanning over 10,000 acres, is a testament to the timeless beauty and quiet reverence of nature.

My visits to the refuge, accompanied by my wife, have left us in awe of its tranquil atmosphere. There is something magical about the place — a sense of wildness that feels both untamed and peaceful; as if nature itself is speaking in whispers. [Read more…] about Iroquois National Wildlife Refuge: A Hidden Gem in Western New York

What’s That Sound? Spring Peepers

April 20, 2024 by Editorial Staff 2 Comments

Hearing the sleigh bell-like sound of hundreds of these wetland-loving frogs is a sure sign that spring has sprung. The spring peeper (pseudacris crucifer) is easy to identify with an “X” on its back, and their color ranges from dark to light brown. Spring peepers are only about an inch in size, nut their chorus can carry for a quarter of a mile. [Read more…] about What’s That Sound? Spring Peepers

Spring Peepers: Always Heard, Seldom Seen

March 31, 2024 by Tom Kalinowski Leave a Comment

The silence that prevails in winter along the shores of marshes clad in alders, willows, dogwoods and wild raisins changes in early spring as the warmer weather melts any remaining patches of snow and ice at lower elevations.

As the ground loses its winter characteristics, the spring peeper is quick to awaken from its winter dormancy, crawl from its shallow, subterranean shelter along with countless numbers of fellow peepers, and travel to a nearby marshy setting. Once it arrives at the water’s edge, this amphibian loudly announces its presence and willingness to breed. [Read more…] about Spring Peepers: Always Heard, Seldom Seen

Fascinating Frog Adaptations

March 29, 2024 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

Frogs have hopped about Earth since before the time of the dinosaurs, and it shows. Celebrated for their amphibious lifestyle and cacophonous choruses, the long arc of frog evolution has yielded other awesome and efficient adaptations in organs from their lungs to their skin. [Read more…] about Fascinating Frog Adaptations

Celebrate Frogs On World Frog Day

March 14, 2024 by Editorial Staff 2 Comments

Frogs were depicted in ancient drawings and carvings thousands of years ago, as well as appearing in today’s cartoons. There were frogs hopping out of the way of dinosaur feet and mastodon feet and are still hopping away from the hands of human children. The shape of a frog is instantly recognizable — there are over 7,000 species worldwide. [Read more…] about Celebrate Frogs On World Frog Day

Mild Weather Spurs Early Salamander and Frog Migration in Hudson Valley

March 8, 2024 by Editorial Staff 2 Comments

In late winter and early spring, amphibian species like wood frog (Lithobates sylvatica), spotted salamander (Ambystoma maculatum), and Jefferson-blue spotted salamander (Ambystoma jeffersonianum x laterale) emerge from underground shelters in the forest and head to vernal pools for breeding. [Read more…] about Mild Weather Spurs Early Salamander and Frog Migration in Hudson Valley

‘Frog Legs Is Our Business’: The Champlain Frog Farm

January 20, 2024 by Helen Allen Nerska 1 Comment

In 1936 Emil and Marguarite Kegly Neuenfeldt bought five acres of marshland near the Whiteside Dam in Perry’s Mills on the Chazy River, just west of the Village of Champlain. It would be the home of Emil’s second, and apparently Clinton County’s first – and only – frog farm. The area was chosen because it was near water and near sources of frogs. But why frogs? [Read more…] about ‘Frog Legs Is Our Business’: The Champlain Frog Farm

The Inevitable First Frost

September 23, 2023 by Tom Kalinowski Leave a Comment

It is inevitable. Regardless of how nice the summer has been, a time comes in September when the first frost of the season coats every exposed surface with a layer of ice crystals and brings about the official end of the growing season. [Read more…] about The Inevitable First Frost

The ABCs of New York’s Wetlands

May 6, 2023 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Although wetlands are often wet, a wetland might not be wet year-round. In fact, some of the most important wetlands are only seasonally wet. Wetlands are the link between land and water; they are found all over the world. [Read more…] about The ABCs of New York’s Wetlands

The Amphibian Migrations and Road Crossings Project

April 15, 2023 by Editorial Staff 1 Comment

In March and April throughout New York State, community volunteers get out their flashlights, reflective safety vests, and rain-gear in anticipation of annual amphibian breeding migrations.

Volunteers can document the migration and help salamanders and frogs as part of DEC’s annual Amphibian Migrations and Road Crossings Project. [Read more…] about The Amphibian Migrations and Road Crossings Project

Paddling Freshwater Marshes: Wildlife Mosaics

September 25, 2022 by Guest Contributor 1 Comment

Sunlight glinted off the water as we paddled our canoe along a winding channel which led through a freshwater marsh of tall grasses and wild rice. Two white, long-legged birds – great egrets – stalked the shallow water, poised to spear fish with their pointed bills.

A bald eagle landed in a tree, squawking as it joined its mate. After four miles of canoeing down the Missisquoi River in northwestern Vermont we had reached the point where the river enters Lake Champlain. [Read more…] about Paddling Freshwater Marshes: Wildlife Mosaics

Little Loudmouths: Small Animals That Create Big Sounds

May 28, 2022 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

From early spring through late summer, the air trills and croaks and buzzes and chirps with the sounds of nature’s little loudmouths. Mornings are full of birdsong; evenings are the domain of frogs and crickets.

How do such little animals make so much noise? Let’s find out by looking at some of the sound-per-pound champions you can find in our forests. [Read more…] about Little Loudmouths: Small Animals That Create Big Sounds

Sounds of Spring: The Wood Frog

April 15, 2022 by Tom Kalinowski Leave a Comment

The awakening of the many forms of life that passed the winter in a deeply dormant state begins with the melting of the snow, the retreating of the ice sheet covering our waterways, and the thawing of the soil.

Because of fundamental physiological differences among the species and the various preferences that each creature has for a wintering site, some animals are quicker to respond to the onset of favorable spring conditions than others.

In the forested regions of New York, the wood frog is among the first to return to an active state and announce with a distinct chorus of voices that spring has come. [Read more…] about Sounds of Spring: The Wood Frog

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