Frog and Toad Resources

• Monitoring Programs
• Toad and Frog Reference Materials

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Monitoring Programs

• FrogWatch USA   www.aza.org/frogwatch
  
  • Information on the FrogWatch USA program, including observation procedures. Frog and toad species listed by state, more frog links including links to recordings of calls. Email:  frogwatch@aza.org
  • Interactive mapping and graphing of FrogWatch data is available using FieldScope at frogwatch.fieldscope.org
• North American Amphibian Monitoring Program (NAAMP)
  US Geological Survey, Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, www.usgs.gov/centers/pwrc/science/north-american-amphibian-monitoring-program
  
  • The Frog Quiz has good set of recordings of frog calls. The there is a public quiz and one for NAAMP volunteers. The public one is also a good way to test your skills.
  • This is also the web site for another frog monitoring program that has volunteers driving to 10 sites in one night a few times a year.
  • Checklist of Amphibian Species and Identification Guides https://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/herps/amphibid/otherres.htm
• Maryland Amphibian and Reptile Atlas ("Herp Atlas") marylandnature.org/mara/
  
  • A goal for this five-year project was to document the distribution of species across Maryland.
  • There is a website with MARA results for Howard County.
  • The hard-cover atlas was published by John Hopkins University Press in November 2018. ISBN 9781421425955
• The Maryland Biodiversity Project marylandbiodiversity.com is focused on cataloging all living things in Maryland. This project is currently active.
  
  • Their amphibian page links to photos for each species, a chart of species and counties, and relative abundancez using a geographical grid across the state.

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Reference Materials

• Lang Elliot books/recordings
  • His web site is now Musicofnature.org   As the name suggests, he has excellent recordings ranging from toads/frogs, insects, birds and to things that make noises in the night.
  • His frog/toad CDs contains different types of calls (advertisement, aggressive, release) for a species, when appropriate. I have found this to be very helpful in distinguishing the less common calls and not confusing them with other species. For example, the spring peeper advertisement call is easily recognized, but there is also an aggressive call that has more trill. The first time I heard it, I thought it was a different species, but this CD made it clear it was just an angry spring peeper.
  • The Frogs and Toads of North America by Lang Elliot, Carl Gerhardt and Carlos Davidson. Published by Houghton Mifflin, March 2009
  • Contains information about all 101 species found in North America with substantially more content than his prior frog call book. The CD contains recordings of all toads and frogs that call. All for under $20.
  • The Calls of Frogs and Toads by Lang Elliot. Published by Stackpole Books, 2004, ISBN 978-0811729680
  • The earlier version of his frog and toad material covering 44 species with less descriptive text.

• Montgomery County (Maryland) Frog and Toad Identification web page
  
  • Photographs and recordings of local frogs and toads
  • Other information about seasonal pools that are important amphibian habitat

• National Amphibian Atlas, US Geological Survey www.pwrc.usgs.gov/naa
  
  • Maps showing where different species are found

• Amphibian Research and Monitoring Initiative, US Geological Survey armi.usgs.gov
  
  • A wide variety of fairly technical information is provided. They describe their program that uses a different (more complicated) procedure than Frogwatch.

• Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS)  www.itis.gov
  • The US/Canadian/Mexican and International source of authoritative taxonomic information.
  • The genus of North American "true frog" changed from Rana to Lithobates and toads from Bufo to Anaxyrus. These changes have not been universally accepted, but have been adopted by ITIS, so that classification is used on this web site.

• Virgina Herpetological Society, www.virginiaherpetologicalsociety.com
  • Photographs of frogs and toads, calls, known locations in Virginia and information for each species. Audio recordings are from Lang Elliott.