Volunteers Needed to Survey Frogs Across Maine

Routes that need volunteers are scattered state-wide, though most are in northern Maine:

Southern Maine:

North Lebanon

Saco

Scarborough

South Parsonsfield
Western Maine:

Casco

Bangor Area:

Ellsoworth

Orrington

Dedham
Downeast Maine:

Deblois
Dover-Foxcroft Area:

Sebec Lake

Brownville
Northwestern Maine:

Penobscot Lake

Pittston Farm

Moose Mountain

Umbazooksus Lake
Greater Houlton Area:

Patten

Oakfield
Northern Maine:

Chapman (west of Presque Isle)

Dickey

St. John

Musquacook 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.

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