FrogWatch USA

There have probably been many times when you’ve been sitting on your back porch at night, listening to all of the sounds emanating from the wild.  There’s a good chance you don’t know what a lot of those noises are. Many of them are from a variety of nocturnal animals, including different species of birds, mammals, and insects. In addition to those animals, many frogs and toads are vocal during the night hours.

Now is a great opportunity to learn the calls of these amphibians and become a citizen scientist with the Brookgreen Gardens chapter of FrogWatch USA. Citizen science is a collaboration between scientists and volunteers to expand the collection of scientific data that might not otherwise be possible. The data collected by volunteers is used to help develop practical conservation methods for frogs and toads. According to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), about 1/3 of amphibian species are threatened with extinction, so the more data we can collect, the better!

FrogWatch USA gives you an opportunity to learn the calls of the many species of frogs and toads of South Carolina, and an opportunity to spend more time outside learning about the natural world with your friends and family. After you complete training, you may register a wetland site of your choosing, and then you go out at night for a monitoring session which only takes 5 minutes. You can do a monitoring session as frequently as you like.

Our first training session of the season is on February 27, 2014 at the Welcome Center's Frye Classroom.  The session begins at 10:30 am and lasts about 1.5 hours.  Please RSVP to Terry Belanger by calling (843) 235-6016.

Additional Training Options (please RSVP as above):
April 5th at 10:30 am in the Lowcountry Center Auditorium
May 8th at 12:00 pm in the Lowcountry Center Auditorium

For more information about FrogWatch USA (and amphibian conservation), you can visit www.aza.org/frogwatch.