Wow Dan, what an urban nature experiance. Are you thinking
this frog relocation prank was designed just for you? Or is the
real prank on the group that shows up tomorrow to get video
taped?
John Hartog
--- In PLANS Secretary
<> wrote:
> Please excuse the double posting to nature recordists and the
Nature
> Sounds Society list.
>
> I wasn't able to get out until after sundown. I drove across the
> third street bridge, jammed with traffic because both
northbound
> lanes are occupied by construction equipment and crews
working
> overtime on the Third Street Light Rail project. I looped around
and
> parked where Illinois Street dead-ends into Islais Creek,
across from
> the warehouses long ago converted to artist habitats.
>
> First I walked west along the shore in a tiny park strip that goes
> along the creek to Third Street. There was nothing that looked
like
> frog habitat there; the tide was low and the rip-rap shore was
> exposed.
>
> When I was back at the end of Illinois St. I heard treefrogs! I
> followed my ears up the fence line along Illinois to two big
yellow
> tubs with standing water, perfect mosquito habitat, and a drip
> irrigation system for trees along the street and in a brushy
thicket
> on the other side of the fence. The frog sounds seemed to be
coming
> from an unnaturally concentrated point on the other side of the
> fence. Listening, I discerned that the sound seemed to be
gated or
> noise reduction processed, with fragments of traffic noise and
voices
> mixed with the frogs. Sounded like a recording. But maybe
what I was
> hearing was some acoustic effect of a culvert opening. Maybe
the
> traffic and voices were coming through the culvert from
somewhere
> else. I wanted to make sure.
>
> Back at the creek end of the street there's a place where one
can
> climb over a low fence and enter the little wild shorline strip the
> residents call "Muwekma Ohlone Park." I squeezed through the
thicket
> back to the fence corner where the sound was coming from.
Point
> source. No culvert. I heard a click when the loop repeated.
>
> Couldn't even fool me once, dudes.
>
> -Dan Dugan
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