This is the sixth annual FrogID Week, which is used to figure out the health of the frog population across the country. The idea is to monitor our frogs over time to see how frogs are handling climate change, habitat loss or disease.
It is a happy coincidence that frogs don’t taste very nice but are very pleasant to listen to, which is what you’d call a win-win. It means I can cheerfully help The Boss find frogs to record without feeling compromised.
FrogID Week runs until Sunday, and the museum is asking people to download the FrogID app, which allows you to record any frog sounds and send them to the museum on the spot.
If I can do it, it means it is a cinch to use, given my large toes — and it’s full of interesting stuff. You can turn on a ‘Near Me’ button that suggests the frogs most likely to be in our area — it gave me 15 straight away.
It has a photo of each frog, a chart of its calling period during the year, a recording of its calls as well as a description, its favoured habitat and a distribution map.
But you don’t need to identify the frog: the record button is right in the middle and you just press it to take a 60-second recording, which will be stored on the app until you submit it to the museum. You have a chance to take a guess at the species or make notes before you send it off.
You don’t need a mobile signal to record sounds, but you can’t submit the recording to the museum until there’s a signal. The app also records the date, time and precise location where the recording was made and sends that to the museum as well.
One of their frog experts listens to it to identify the species and sends back an email telling me if it was a verified frog — or whether it was verified as not a frog … as in me barking, for instance.
This can take a few weeks, depending on how many frog recordings are flowing in: you’d think after FrogID Week, it might take a while for them to catch up.
It looks like more and more people are taking an interest in doing it because back in June, the museum said it had received more than half a million frog recordings from around the country.
This week, the museum wants as many recordings as possible, as often as possible — even if it’s the same frog in the same place. It all provides a better picture of how the frogs are fairing — or it could equally provide a picture of me and The Boss being too lazy to go and find more frogs.
Anyway, it’s a fine little app and you’re doing the frogs a great service by joining in. It’s also interesting to listen to all the frog calls along the river. I bet you’ll surprise yourself and recognise half of them straight away.
Some frog calls have a second life, too. The TV news was on silent the other night and there was Donald Trump outside a New York courthouse, opening and shutting his mouth. The Boss hit the audio for the eastern banjo frog, and it was a beautiful thing. Woof!
