4-18-08 Forest Glen Preserve, Vermillion County, IL

I was on a cub scout camping trip with my son, Stephen, and on our first night there I had to find out where the calls were coming from.  Hiking down the road a short distance from the group camp sites I found a clearing with a fire pit in the middle and on the opposite side a large scrape in the ground with calling Spring Peepers and American Toads. The next day returning from our hike I came by the scrape again and found several pairs of toads in amplexus like the pair in the photo surrounded by black strings of eggs. The recording is from the first evening. I particularly like this melodic combination of the bell-like sounds of a large chorus of spring peepers and the long sustained trills of the American toads.

4-5-08 Riverbend Forest Preserve, Champaign County, IL

The "Shallows" weren't as shallow as they used to be, but there were a couple of Plains Leopard Frogs active nonetheless.  I was able to get close enough to get a picture of the one on the left after my monitoring period was over. Too much water in the Shallows turned out well for the meadows, however, which had a lot of water and a lot of Western Chorus Frogs actively calling.  The recording is from the meadow.