One Froggy Evening 4-25-2013

We once again decided to try something new...

We got a message from our friend Steve (whose essential herp site is called New England Herps) asking if we'd like to join him at his go-to place in Worcester and Middlesex Counties. We've heard great things about the place from him, so we agreed! The trick? It was going to be at night!

It was an official Peeper search and we'd be joining Photographer Paul Nguyen (whose amazing work can be seen here) and a small group of other photographers and herpers to try to get some Spring Peeper shots. Of course, with our good camera in the shop, we were kind of crippled, but we made the best of it. Steve was nice enough to let us borrow an extra camera of his as well.

So, we arrived at dusk and met everyone and hit the trails!  In the waning light, Steve pointed out spots of interest for when we come back in the daylight! Even with a bit of sun in the sky, the Peepers were calling. It soon became deafening!


We could also hear the occasional Pickerel Frog and Gray's Tree Frog calling.

But actually seeing the frogs was quite another thing! We could see some (like this Bullfrog), but we couldn't get my inferior camera to capture them!


Eventually, I crawled about 8 feet out a log to small clump of trees protruding from the water...

to get this blurry shot of a Bullfrog!

Peepers were calling all around me, sometimes actually making my ears hurt, but I just couldn't see any!

We found another Bullfrog...

And then Steve caught one and brought it up for us all to photograph.


And I mean ALL of us!!


One photographer had settled in to get some great shots of a Pickerel Frog, so we went to see how he was doing. While at that part of the pond, we heard the Peepers calling like mad and Steve , Andrea and I waded into the muck, up to a tuft of weed and... saw a Peeper!


Hallelujah!! Finally, persistence paid off!

A nearby Bullfrog sat there, wondering what the fuss was all about!


We had another chance at a Peeper a short time later... I went into the boggy water up to my knees and this is all I got...

I feel the need to post it simply because of the effort!

So, we headed out after about 2 1/2 hours, happy with our finds and ready to come back in the daylight for some serious herping! Oh, and now we had waders on our want list. And one of those handheld photo-lights that Paul was using! Night herping is still fairly new to us, but it's fun and you get a chance to see and hear things that just aren't happening in the sunlight!

Thank you, Steve and Paul!