Volunteers Needed to Survey Frogs Across Maine

The following routes are in need of "Citizen Science" volunteers:

440102 St. John
440105 Chapman

440110 Greenfield

440114 Madison

440204 Caucomgomoc Lake
440206 Bridgewater
440208 Moose Mountain
440301 Dickey

440306 Bootford
440308 Penobscot Lake
440404 Musquacook Lake
440405 Oakfield/Stair Falls
440505 Patten
440508 Pittston Farm

440515 Ellsworth

440715 Tunk Lake

Ideally, volunteers have e-mail and Internet access and can commit three years to the project. After passing an online quiz on frog calls, they conduct surveys first in early spring to hear spring peepers and wood frogs, then in late spring to hear American toads and northern leopard and pickerel frogs, and finally in early summer for gray tree, green, mink and bullfrogs. Volunteers make 10 stops along their routes, waiting five minutes at each and noting the frog species they hear.

Maine has nine species of amphibians, and usually only a few are heard at any one time, making identification relatively easy for beginners. Potential volunteers as well as the public are welcome to take the frog quiz, designed by the U.S. Geological Survey, at www.pwrc.usgs.gov/frogquiz.

The Maine Amphibian Monitoring Project was begun in 1997 by Maine Audubon and the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife to assess amphibian populations not only across Maine but nationwide as part of an effort coordinated by the U.S. Geological Survey.

Those interested in participating should contact Becca Wilson at (207) 781-2330, ext. 222, or bwilson@maineaudubon.org.

##