USGS Study Confirms U.S. Amphibian Populations Declining at Precipitous Rates Posted: 22 May 2013 01:59 PM PDT CORVALLIS, Ore. — The first-ever estimate of how fast frogs, toads and salamanders in the United States are disappearing from their habitats reveals they are vanishing at an alarming and rapid rate. According to the study released today […]

Attention Homeschoolers, teachers, parents, and curious naturalists! Frog activity will start to stir come the first week or two of March –  Here is a great  resource to add to use as we head into this season: Hop Into Action. The author, David Alexander, joined us one spring for our amphibian monitoring program kickoff and spring […]

We had our last of three amphibian monitoring program kickoffs this past Saturday.  This one was held at Algonkian Regional Park and it held some really great sightings! To start the morning, Casey Pittrizzi, the naturalist at Algonkian Regional Park, let everyone have up close looks at a Wood Frog, Spotted Salamander, American Toad and […]

Earlier in October, I was reading through the digest version of the Virginia herps listserv and saw a posting that made me fall out of my seat!  Eastern Spadefoot Toad found in Loudoun!! The toad was found at Algonkian Park and while over the past 10+ years, we have had two reports of the species […]

Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy offers many opportunities for citizens to participate in nature programs that promote the collection of important environmental data across the county. Stream Monitoring Interested in what you might find in a stream near you?  Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy works alongside the Loudoun Watershed Watch in monitoring our local streams for all types of bacterial and […]

I went out in search of trilling toads and while they trilled away when I first found them the day before, they stayed silent throughout my podcast. Lips were sealed! The photo here is of one of them, clearly just waiting me out 🙂

Seven of us went out to Bles Park in Ashburn, Virginia on Saturday night for a fun night hike to look and listen for frogs.  This is just the second of such night hikes that we’ve done so far but they’re so much fun that we’ll definitely be doing more starting next spring when the […]

So we held our first evening amphibian foray into the woods last night.  The plan was to enjoy the Gray Tree Frog chorus at the Blue Ridge Center, since in past years, the chorus was in full swing this time of year. The Gray Tree Frogs, however, must have missed the note because they stayed quiet […]

Ten people, including a couple celebrating their 27th wedding anniversary, participated in the Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy’s free monthly bird walk, led by Joe Coleman & Larry Meade, at the Blue Ridge Center this morning and found 56 species in the fields and woods there.  After listening to a couple of Grasshopper Sparrows and the first […]

For those of you involved in our amphibian monitoring program and those just curious, I just learned of this really interesting article about a study done that shows that frogs, toads and newts tend to mate under a full moon.  When we talk about Big Night events, we’re generally looking for those rainy nights since that’s when […]