Austins maze of concrete hides amphibian oases - Austin American-Statesman

Texas master naturalists Kathy McCormack and Sue Anderson gathered with a small group of naturalists earlier this month in the Parmer Villas apartment parking lot in Northeast Austin to go hunting. Inconspicuously tucked away behind the maze of asphalt and condominiums are a series of small dams that form a creek that shelters their prey.

The sun hadn’t yet dipped below the horizon as the group hefted several nets and a collection bucket down a short path to Lake Creek. The black silhouettes of swallows and chimney swifts rose and fell along the skyline of ochre and coral-colored clouds as the birds hunted for their last few insects before settling down to roost.

“There’s going to be a changing of the guard as the sun sets and it gets dark,” McCormack said. The bats were about to come out and take their place in the sky above the creek. But they wouldn't be alone. “We have seen a great-horned owl fly over the creek catching the bats,” she said. “Nature in all its gory glory!”

But it wasn’t bats or birds the group was after. McCormack and Anderson have led fellow volunteers out to various creeks and ponds in Central Texas every month for the past 10 years to monitor and record the frogs and toads that live there. The information they collect is used by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and researchers around the world.

Mixed with the constant electric drone of cicadas, the frogs slowly began their nightly serenade. McCormack and Anderson can identify each species of frog without even needing to see them.

“Cricket frog!” McCormack said after the first chorus of frog song started up. “That’s the Blanchard’s cricket frog starting to call — click, click, click, click, click,” she said, mimicking the call.

It was still a bit too early in the evening to catch frogs for photographing or to record their calls, but there was no shortage of other wildlife.

“Snake! Snake!” Several species of aquatic snakes live in and around the creek, and one of the volunteers, Ruthann Panipinto, wasted no time in showing the group her first catch, a sleek redstripe ribbon snake.

“You can smell the musk they release when they’re upset,” she said. Although the snake was out hunting cricket frogs, the naturalists bore it no ill will. A quick photograph next to a ruler for scale, and the snake was released and on its way.

Soon, the gibbous moon was the brightest light in the sky, and the monitoring began in earnest. McCormack took out a small microphone and periodically called for silence while she made short recordings of frogs.

"Keep in mind, only the males are singing, just like birds,” she said. “So with the calls, we're really only recording half of what's out there and that they’re breeding or not.”

She recorded cricket frogs and snagged one for a quick picture. Then the green tree frogs chimed in from somewhere on the margin of the creek. After a few more observations, the group headed up the path to a wall made of large limestone blocks, the favorite haunt of geckos, scorpions and the amphibians the researchers were after: Gulf Coast toads and two species of chirping frogs.

The toads, too large to be afraid of much, sat demurely while the group took photos. Strewn across the sidewalk every few feet were mating pairs of walking sticks that crawled up from the grass, attracted to the warmth of the cement.

The night ended with the faint chirruping of a Rio Grande leopard frog, almost inaudible above the cacophony of green tree frogs in mid-chorus. After a few tries, Anderson got a recording, and the group packed up to head home after what turned out to be a short two-hour excursion.

McCormack and Anderson will upload their data to iNaturalist, a website available for anyone to use. It serves as an online database of observations around the world, not just for amphibians and reptiles, but for every conceivable animal, plant or fungus visible to the naked eye.

“Our most recent observations are in the worldwide iNaturalist database, and the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department pulls all observations that meet their stringent criteria for completeness and quality," Anderson said.

More than 33,000 observations of amphibians from Texas are recorded in iNaturalist. That information is available to biologists studying long-term patterns in animal populations. Texas Parks and Wildlife uses the data to help determine whether species’ populations are healthy in the state.

“This is especially important in areas where you have rapid change on the landscape,” said Tania Homayoun, a natural resource specialist for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. “Having long-term data may provide different insights into how those species may respond to change.”

Researchers at Texas A&M University’s Natural Resource Institute just completed a study showing which highways in Texas are most likely to have a negative impact on amphibian and reptile populations, using only records from iNaturalist. They were able to use more than 12,000 confirmed observations to determine the areas in which 62 species of interest are most at risk. That information is valuable to the Texas Department of Transportation, which is legally required to aid in mitigation efforts if any of those species is ever declared endangered. TxDOT can now use this resource to proactively install bridges, culverts or tunnels that allow animals to cross safely where they need them most.

“Sometimes people don't necessarily realize that their observations are important to the work that we do,” Homayoun said. “So I'd strongly encourage anyone who has an interest in plants and animals to consider sharing their observations. There's a place for everyone no matter where you are in the learning process.”

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