LINCOLN PARK — Do you think you can tell the difference between the "pre-e-e-p" of a Western chorus frog or the musical-sounding trill of an American toad?
The Lincoln Park Conservancy is looking for volunteers to help measure the impact of development and humans on the environment by listening for frogs' mating calls.
Frogs are an indicator species for the health of the environment.
Frogs and toads occupy the middle of the food chain, making them one of the most important species in the area's ponds and wetlands.
"If new things are getting into the water, will that change how they grow and mate?" said Aaron Hammond, a natural areas site manager with the Lincoln Park Conservancy.
The conservancy is offering its annual frog calls training Saturday to teach volunteers how to listen for 13 local species of frog that can be found in Chicago.
Of the 13 species that volunteers are trained to listen for, five are very common, while others are extremely rare.
One species, the pickerel frog, was never abundant, but hasn't been seen or heard in the Chicago area for about 60 years, and the status of the species is unknown, according to Hammond.
Listen to the difference frog species here:
Volunteers will leave the two-hour training with a CD of frog sounds for them to study and a PowerPoint presentation to take home and study.
Once volunteers can differentiate between the sounds, they can head out in the spring to help measure their populations.
Frog and toad mating seasons typically take place between March and early June, depending on the season's weather, and the surveying will take part at night, since that's when most frogs call.
If a volunteer has trouble remembering the sounds, it's best to listen to their ribbit with earbuds rather than play the sounds out loud.
"We don't want you to be out there with your stereo or iPhone and scare them away," Hammond said.
Most of the sounds are very distinct from each other.
The project started in 2000 as a way for project land managers, the government and scientists to look at data on the changing frog and toad populations.
Once volunteers collect their data during three periods this spring, the conservancy will send it to regional scientists and government associations.
"No data is still data," Hammond said. "We want to know that there is nothing out there. If you are really bad at it, you can at least know there are no frogs."
The two-hour training is from 10 a.m. to noon at the Lincoln Park Conservancy, 2000 N. Racine.
Advance registration is required by calling 773-883-7275, or email Aaron Hammond at ahammond@lincolnparkconservancy.org.
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