Photograph of a Green Frog en ( Rana clamitans en ). Photo taken at the Tyler Arboretum. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
When I was young, there were always smashed frogs in the middle of the road in front of my house. Ok, I realize that I may be talking about toads, but for this post I am going to group them together and call them frog toads. The boys in the neighborhood used to pick them up and fling them at us girls. The poor unfortunate frog toads would be hard and paper thin. I guess if you were repeatedly run over by a car, you would become flat too. I don’t see dead frog toads on the road anymore. I mean, not that I am looking for them or anything. But, yeah, I guess I am. And I just don’t see them.
According to Wikipedia, there has been a decline in populations of amphibians in the past three decades. From scientific studies that were performed, it was found that 32% of species are threatened and between 9 and 122 species have become extinct since 1980. There is also another list that puts 486 amphibians as “critically endangered.” And I just bet those smashed frog toads on the road are part of one of those studies.
Wouldn’t it be awful to never hear the sounds of the spring peepers? Their choir down by my old pond performed for me all the time. Bullfrogs would bellow periodically. I used to love to sit outside on my front porch at night and listen to their wonderful music. What if that goes away too?
I’ve noticed a lot of changes since I was young. We all know about the plight of the honeybee. I really don’t know if tent caterpillars serve any purpose, but I really don’t see those white sticky nests like I used to years ago. I think I’m still paying attention. And what about the Japanese beetles? They used to be a huge pain in the ass just ten years ago. They would always appear in my part of West Virginia the last week of June.
And what about the grasshopper? Dear god, where the hell are you, Hopper? I saw one yesterday and I swear it is the first one I have seen in a long time. Is it just me? Maybe bugs don’t like West Virginia anymore. I don’t think that would be the case. We are a lovely place for insects.
I guess I’m just scared. I don’t have grandchildren yet, but I would hate it if my future grandson wasn’t able to fling a dead smashed frog toad onto his sister.
Posted by backonmyown on July 13, 2012 at 5:07 pm
We live in scary times, don’t we? I’m glad I have you to make me laugh.
Posted by Jumping in Mud Puddles on July 13, 2012 at 8:41 pm
LOL Thanks Pat.
Posted by Elyse on July 11, 2012 at 7:44 pm
I’m actually up in Maine on the coast and there are hardly any seagulls. It is oddly quiet.
Posted by Jumping in Mud Puddles on July 11, 2012 at 10:11 pm
And you know what’s weird? We have a couple of seagulls that fly above our mall every year..and we are nowhere near the ocean. It’s been going on since the mid seventies when I arrived here. Weird.
Posted by Elyse on July 11, 2012 at 10:14 pm
Actually, there are stranger things. The State bird of Utah is the seagull, because there was once a plague of locusts and a big wind blew the gulls inland and they ate up all the locusts.
I know too many weird facts. I think I need a substitute brain.
Posted by Jumping in Mud Puddles on July 12, 2012 at 7:10 am
Seriously, the state bird of Utah is the seagull? Wow. What’s the state animal, a panda? lol
Posted by Elyse on July 12, 2012 at 7:38 am
Perhaps!
Posted by Elizabethli on July 11, 2012 at 7:07 pm
Ah, we have all the tent caterpillars up here in North Idaho. One tree in particular is full of them in about a month or two from now. And the grasshoppers; they can be a pain sometimes when they try to jump up into your shirt.
Posted by Jumping in Mud Puddles on July 11, 2012 at 10:10 pm
Ah, so they are all in Idaho…ok, as long as they are still somewhere.
Posted by Brown Road Chronicles on July 11, 2012 at 6:57 pm
They’ve been replaced by a scourge of asian lady beetles and boxelder bugs! I’ll be honest, we still have so many freakin’ kinds of bugs around us, I see stuff constantly that I’ve never seen before. Maybe that’s because we’re out in the country. I’ve seen a big increase in spiders recently, not sure if that has something to do with the drought? We do see some grasshoppers, not too often but they’re around, crickets too, you can hear them all the time. We recently had a huge explosion in these little black beetle bugs that apparently like booze, because if you were outside having a glass of wine, they would swarm the glass and get into the wine! A little research and we discovered it was something called a picnic beetle! Guess it depends on where you live what you get and don’t get, but I’m feeling good about the welfare of the bug population… for now!
Posted by Jumping in Mud Puddles on July 11, 2012 at 10:13 pm
Ok, good. Drunk bugs, eh? lol
Posted by daeja's on July 11, 2012 at 1:53 pm
I noticed all the red efts are gone. All those magical little salamanders we used to find……..very sad and very scary…
Posted by Jumping in Mud Puddles on July 11, 2012 at 2:51 pm
I know, right? We used to find newts and salamanders all over the place. It’s scary.