Berry Springs Preserve Herps of Texas report, 20Feb2016
It was a beautiful February evening for three of us at Berry Springs Preserve on February 20, 2016. Before sunset, we walked around the slough closest to the parking lot and the ditch in the pecan orchard, and we saw and heard Rio Grande Leopard Frogs (RGLFs), but we couldn’t catch them, take their picture, or get a recording. When listening began at sunset (6:20 PM), we only saw bats (and heard them on the detector) flying over the main pond.
After the first listening period, we went over to the ditch and were rewarded with RGLFs at a Call Index of 2 (but no recording), so after hearing them and a Northern Cricket Frog (both at Call Index 1) at the main pond in the middle listening period, we stationed ourselves back at the ditch for the last listening period. I’m happy to report that the patient froggers got the frog – my first recording of the year was a 13 second clip of one of the RGLFs, and after pausing the recording, I got a different RGLF in the last 24 seconds of the recording.
Below is the environmental data associated with the Northern Cricket Frog that we heard (CI = 1) but weren’t able to document:
Air temperature (deg F) = 70
Sky = No or few clouds