Croaking chorus

One of my favorite songs from childhood is the Hindi song 'Awara bhavre'. This song echoes the melody in every sound, and whenever I enjoy music in the sounds of nature, I remember this particular song.

Clouds covered the sky and mid-March became rainy. The thunder and wet weather called the frogs out from under the mud of fields and woods. It was time for them to wake up from their hibernating sleep, pair up, and go in search of water grounds for breeding. And like the past few years, volunteers around Slovenia gathered up to help the frogs in crossing the roads. Blaž and I also joined our hands in the little effort to save the frogs and other amphibians. This time we were more informed and joined the campaign at the beginning of the breeding season. We picked up and helped more forggies and toads than last year, and got a closer insight of the green world of frogs.

Armed with buckets, gloves, lights and jackets, we reached one of the locations (Harše) soon after we finished work. It was a bit early, but we could not wait for the evening to set in and simply started the frog search in one of the fenced fields.

We were just about to step in the field when we noticed by the edge of the road, close to the fence, a pair of toads hiding in the mud and peeking through the hole. It was still day light and we had to take a few pictures before pulling it out. The male one of course gave little kicks as we touched it, and with an ‘ark ark’ sound the pair was finally safe in our bucket. And behold, another pair was hiding behind it with their face hidden in the mud. They too landed in the bucket. This made us a bit conscious. We had to look more carefully for hidden frogs in mud. I was afraid of stepping on them, hiding and camouflaging in the mud and grass. We proceeded keeping a careful watch and with light steps. The first ones we found were all paired toads somehow buried in mud. We had to be careful to not hurt them or pull them too hard from their hiding hole. One was a bit more inside the mud. As we tried to dig it out, the scared little toad buried itself inside and inside. We left that poor scared thing alone. Never did we know frogs could push such deep down in the soil to hide. With the soil being just wet and not too soft, I was amazed at their ability. One does not realize how animal behaviors have the element to surprise unless one experiences them.

The evening was setting in, and now more frogs and toads were slowly coming out from beneath the soil. Soon the timid marsh frogs and active common frogs joined in our bucket. A bit scared and wanting to escape, all were trying to gather and stand on top of each other. A couple of naughty common brown frogs even jumped out of the bucket to be instantly caught back in.

All along there was this beautiful composition of different croaking sounds from our bucket and from other buckets around us. The most common sounds were the ‘ark ark’ (okay I do not know how to make frog sounds in writing) from the male toads. And even when it was sound of one particular species of toads, there were variations in pitch and loudness creating a melody. Common frogs would join them with their ‘uk uk ukk kk’ calls in a rhythmic and repetitive fashion. The timid green marsh frogs has a distinct ‘rrrkkkk rrrrkkkkk’ call with characteristic pitch that could be identified as an infrequent part of the natural symphony.

It was time to take our bucket across the road and release the frogs in the wet field there. We went a bit further in the field than where other volunteers, and released our little scared frogs. Some were desperate to jump into freedom; some were too scared to venture out. All stopped for a few moments and then started croaking and hopping their way towards the water grounds.

Standing there in silence, we could only hear the chorus of the frogs. The characteristic calls of the male frogs formed a beautiful symphony. It was amazing to listen to all the different calls of different frog species tuned into a perfect harmony. Listening carefully, one could also recognize the voice of crickets and other night bugs along with the loud croaks. It was like a grand orchestra by nature. It was hard to believe that the main road was only a couple of meters away lit under the streetlights and cars were passing from time to time. It felt there on the field like an island of seclusion, where only the darkness of night and sounds of nature enveloped us. Feeling the croaking music gave a sense of bliss, the bliss of returning to nature. It was beautiful and simple. One of the best music I have ever heard.

Last weekend I was in California Academy of Science museum, where they were celebrating Earth day weekend. Amongst other events there was a 'Save the frogs' presentation talking about how several species of frogs are getting extinct and most are endangered due to human activities and climate change. The lecturer was an amphibian biologist. He was telling stories from his studies in Australia along with mimicking different frog calls. It reminded me of the beautiful frog symphony experience from that night. Then, as a side comment he mentioned: the frogs and other amphibians evolving millions of years ago survived major extinction events; but in the last million years we humans have done the work, and have managed to push them on the verge of extinction.

It will be unfortunate to not be able to experience and listen to the croaking chorus on the fields, in the woods, by the ditch on some wet day. Music will be lost if these sounds of nature fade away. I wish to continue enjoying the sights and sounds of nature, beautiful and awe-inspiring in their simplicity.