March migration creates a symphony of sound – and not just birds
Nebraska Chorus Frog
It’s March here in Nebraska, which means it’s the migration season for ducks, geese, shore birds, and of course, the cranes.
Yesterday I saw and heard them all. Early crane flocks numbering 20 to 50 individual birds, plus one flock of over 500. There were Mallards and Pintails by the thousands; Snow, Blue and Canada geese by the hundreds of thousands; and there was even one Greater Yellowlegs poking around in a quite backwater.
However, it wasn’t the sounds of the thousands upon thousands of migrating waterfowl that truly signaled to me that spring was about to descend upon Nebraska. Nope. Here in Nebraska spring truly begins with the a chorus of frogs. Not birds, frogs!
Like fingers running over a hundred combs at once, assemblages of these little frogs call from the temporary pools and flooded grasses of the Rainwater Basin region of the Chicken Dance Trail, filling the early spring nights with a musical composition that would rival one played by a symphony.
Many know the call of the crane. Even those who hear it for the first time, remember it from somewhere deep inside, stirring ancestral thoughts of an earlier time. The call of those of the Gray Wing is a call of unrest, of movement and change. It’s a call of one who is here for but a brief time and will soon be gone. The call of the Sandhill Crane is a call of March to be sure, but it’s not the call to spring.
Red-winged blackbirds returning to nest in the cattail marshes are greeted with the call. Turkeys hear the call and start to gobble in turn. No, it’s not the crane; the red-wings, the robin nor the warbler that gives assurance that winter is finally through. Spring arrives on the eve of the first little frog call.
Last night was that eve. I heard the frogs calling to me from the slough. Winter will struggle to maintain its tight grip of snow, sleet and ice upon us, but the frog has called. Like the fat lady singing, the frog’s song signals the end to the season of sleep and the beginning of the season of re-birth. So, by day I will enjoy the cranes and the Pintails, then as the sun sets and the moon rises to light the prairie evenings, the frogs will sing and I will sit in the dark of the Nebraska night and listen to the arrival of spring.
Their songs, much like those of birds, identify different species of frogs. To learn the various songs of the different frogs and toads of Nebraska I would suggest "Frog Calls of Nebraska," a CD compiled by University of Nebraska-Lincoln herpetologist Dennis Ferraro and available at http://nebraskamaps.unl.edu.
Spring is coming. Listen for it on the evening breeze.
Mark M. Peyton
Senior District Biologist
Central Nebraska Public Power & Irrigation District
About the Chicken Dance Trail
The Chicken Dance Trail is actually a collection of great bird watching locations in southwest and south central Nebraska, between the Platte and Republican Rivers. Because the area includes the narrowest section of the hourglass-shaped Central Flyway, the Chicken Dance Trail is uniquely situated for birders. Millions of different birds come through here during spring and fall migrations, making the Chicken Dance Trail one of the best places in the country to see a wide variety of species in a relatively small area.
Our bird watching sites were developed by local naturalists and birding experts and are collected into a series of bird watching “adventures” which are described in detail, along with interactive maps, on our Web site at www.chickendancetrail.com. Other resources include a birding chart, useful birding links, and guides to restaurants, lodging and activities in the area.
Our wildlife and bird watching sites were developed by local naturalists and are collected into a series of “adventures” which are described in detail, along with interactive maps, on our Web site at www.chickendancetrail.com. Other resources include a birding chart, useful links, and guides to restaurants, lodging and activities in the area.
Come and visit and learn why we say, “Birds love this part of Nebraska...and you will too!”
Special Thanks to:
Nebraska Game and Parks, Birds of Nebraska
www.ngpc.state.ne.us/wildlife/guides/birds/findbirds.asp