Dedicated volunteers survey for NJ’s calling amphibians
Results of the 2011 CAMP season
by Larissa Smith, Biologist & Volunteer Manager
Each spring Calling Amphibian Monitoring Project (CAMP) volunteers take time out of their busy lives to drive the dark roads of NJ and listen for the calls of NJ’s amphibians. Not only do these volunteers have to find the time to schedule the three surveys, each in a specific four week period, they need to meet the protocol for the surveys. This means meeting the minimum temperature requirement, which is not the easiest in March, as well as other weather protocol. Once they find a perfect night to survey the volunteers follow a 15-mile route with 10 stops. They stop and listen for 5 minutes at each stop and record the amphibians they hear. This can be a frustrating experience depending upon the route. Noise from cars can make surveying difficult and some of the routes in more developed areas record no amphibians calling on many of the stops. Meanwhile volunteers on the less developed routes can often hear a chorus of frogs and toads that can be almost deafening.
I’d like to thank all the dedicated CAMP volunteers for finding the time to survey this season.
Survey Results
Thirty-one volunteers surveyed 33 routes. Each route is to be surveyed three times during the spring in March, April & June. A total of 77 surveys were conducted. All 16 species of NJ frogs and toads were detected on the surveys. The species that was heard on the most routes was the Northern Spring Peeper which was heard on 31 routes out of 33 that were surveyed. The second most detected species was the Green Frog heard on 22 routes out of the 33 surveyed. The least detected species was the Spade Foot Toad which was only heard on one route.
Would you like to help next year?
- Fourteen routes are available for the 2012 season.
- For more information on volunteering email Larissa Smith.