Join MAREP on April 7th for a Spring Frog and Wetland Walk! Spring is a wonderful time to experience the sights and sounds of the wetlands coming back to life after a long, quiet winter. The tour will be led by Peyton Doub, an ecologist with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) with over 30 years of professional experience and a current member of the MAREP Board.
· When: Thursday, April 7, 5-8:15pm ET (rain date Friday, April 8, 5-8:15pm ET). Meet promptly at 5pm!
· Where: We will meet at the historic Old Angler’s Inn at 10801 MacArthur Blvd, Potomac, MD 20854 for dinner and drinks. Please park in the trail lot directly across the street from the Inn. The walk will begin at 6:30pm.
· Cost: There is no cost for this event. Cash bar and food/dinner available at attendee’s expense.
· Note: Comfortable walking shoes recommended. Trail level of difficulty considered Easy (flat/level). Tour/hike less than 2 miles total. Feel free to bring binoculars and a camera!
More About The Event:
Compared to the quiet of Winter, warm Spring evenings bring a symphony of natural sounds. Trees rustle in a soft breeze, birds chirp as they flit from branch to branch, and squirrels brush against the groundcover as they move from tree to tree. But most noticeable of all, a raucus chorus of frog peeps emerges from the rushes of shallow wetlands. Many think these chirpy sounds come from birds or crickets, but they actually are the products of frogs; an amphibian mating call heard only in spring, before the frogs lay eggs that will soon hatch, and then the chorus will fall silent again until next spring. This is no faint murmur; the peeps, chirps, and grunts are loud and distinct, and in the right place at the right time, can be almost deafening. Just as birders can recognize bird species by listening for distinct songs and calls, so too can one identify frog species by their spring sounds.
The most noticeable frog sound in the Mid-Atlantic is that of the spring peeper, a frog smaller than a fingertip that lives on the sedges, rushes, and emergent grasses in wetlands. Hearing a spring peeper is easy; seeing one is quite difficult. Single spring peepers make a sharp peepy sound; multiple spring peepers (a chorus) sound like sleighbells. The chorus can be expected on warm twilights from March to early May, disappearing when the weather gets cold, but returning once evening temperatures go back over 60 degrees (F) or so. Additional frog sounds that one may encounter in our area include those of the green frog, bullfrog, and American toad.
The walk will take place in the Widewater area along the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal in Montgomery County, Maryland. Free trailhead parking is available on the south side of MacArthur Blvd, directly opposite from the Old Angler’s Inn. There is no admission fee. We will walk about a mile westward on the flat canal towpath to a place where the normally narrow canal widens out into a small lake. Termed Widewater, this is a place where the canal builders incorporated a narrow side channel of the Potomac River into the canal prism to reduce excavation efforts. The land between Widewater and the Potomac River is called Bear Island and is rocky and densely forested, with numerous small shallow depressional wetlands termed vernal pools. Vernal pools are a great place to encounter frogs, although I expect that we will also hear frogs from wetlands contained within the canal prism and other wooded areas as well.
The walk will be slow and easy, and you will not have to get your feet wet. In addition to hearing frogs, we can expect to see and hear several bird species. Your docent, Peyton Doub, will also point out some interesting trees and wildflowers. If you think of it, bring binoculars and a camera. Peyton will bring his binoculars to share.