Dear Walt:
At 04:50 AM 2/11/02 -0700, Jim wrote:
>My best rain recording is of Wood Ducks at the Rio Grande Nature Center. It
>was made while standing under a concrete overhang. Concrete seems to do a
>good job of dampening the sound of raindrops. This resulted in a very
>natural and pleasing rain sound.
>
>Jim Morgan
Me, too, I have often used sheds and the like. So, there you go, Walt,
carry a concrete shed with you.
Seriously, my very limited experience with Spadefoot Toads, Scaphiopus
holbrookii. (DelMarVa, 1956) indicated that they only breed during, and
shortly after, unusually heavy prolonged showers. The chorus time after
such deluges may only be a few hours long. What luck have you had in your
surveys with these elusive, fossorial creatures?
I see from your web site:
http://wwknapp.home.mindspring.com/Docs/eastern.spadefoot.toad.html
you have nice, clear recordings of "the grumbling old men" from one (two?)
location, but they have always presented survey nightmares, because you
almost have to be in location BEFORE the deluge to hear them. Or else, you
find them in wet basements by word-of-mouth (This Broken Archipelago, J. D.
Lazell, Jr. 1976, 'Spadefoot". p. 101, NYTimes Books, Quadrangle Press.)
Prior to spraying for mosquitoes, they used to be common in much of
southern New England. In 1974, I had John Q. Adams (the great grandson!,
then 91) show me three locations in Lincoln, Mass, where he heard and
caught them as a boy near Mass Audubon Society (around 1900). Now all gone.
my very best,
Marty Michener
MIST Software Associates
75 Hannah Drive, Hollis, NH 03049
coming soon : EnjoyBirds bird identification software.
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