Thanks to an invitation
from Scott Albert, my first official herp trip of the 2007 spring season was targeted at two little frogs that reside in southern
Missouri
and southern Illinois. Scott had
already done the work of tracking down populations of these frogs so all I had to do is show up and reap the benefits of his
hard work.
I met Scott and Brian
Willy, both students at Southern Illinois University, just as it was getting dark in a little southern Illinois
town. Soon after saying hello we were in transit to a nearby pond where Scott
had observed these frogs just days earlier. As soon as we were within earshot
I herd the unmistakable high pitched peeping of the Illinois chorus frog, my
number one target for the trip. Along with the Illinois
chorus frogs, spring peepers and upland chorus frogs were also calling; the latter of which was my second target. We dawned our hip boots, readied our cameras, and were at the ponds edge in no time. Upon our arrival, the full chorus came to an abrupt stop but it didn’t take too long for a lone brave,
or maybe foolish, individual to start up again, in turn, encouraging all the other frogs to accept our presence and begin
calling. The full chorus was almost defining but at the same time quite beautiful.
The Illinois
chorus frog is a fossoral resident of sand prairies that were deposited by the Mississippi River millions
of years ago. The vast majority of these prairies having been developed into
agricultural lands leaving the Illinois chorus frog hanging on to existence
in only a few small localities.
Illinois
chorus frog
