Volunteers Needed to Survey Frogs Across Maine

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

Northern Maine:
St. John (near Fort Kent)
Clayton Lake
Musquacook Lake
Caucomgomoc Lake
Penobscot Lake

Pittston Farm

Sangerville
Sebec Lake (near Guilford)
Near Preque Isle:

Advent Swamp

Chapman
Bootford
Bridgewater
Near Houlton:
Patten

East of Bangor:
Myra
Deblois

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.

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