![swamp song book frog swamp song book frog](http://newburylibrary.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/frogbook_froginthebog.jpg)
But they’re actually a frog of southern swamps.
![swamp song book frog swamp song book frog](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/ef/fb/66/effb663366abe05c5d3f39a0bd26b862.jpg)
![swamp song book frog swamp song book frog](https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/media/3uhoqq43/chocolate-frog-cnn.jpg)
It was quite a remarkable sound.ĬURWOOD: Sounds like somebody trying to start an engine that won’t go.ĮLLIOTT: Right, yeah, it does have that, especially the second part of that snort where you hear the vibration in the call.ĬURWOOD: Now we couldn’t go to the swamps without having a bunch of frogs, too, right?ĬURWOOD: What are some of the most prominent ones there?ĮLLIOTT: Well, the most prominent frog, I believe, in Okefenokee, the one that everyone hears – you can hear it day and night – is the pig frog, which grunts like a pig.ĮLLIOTT: It actually looks like a bullfrog, about the size of a bullfrog, and some people mistake them and even their sounds for bullfrogs. I didn’t actually touch it, I just sort of waved it out in front of it.ĮLLIOTT: And it responded with a loud snort followed by this hissing noise. It wasn’t really making any noise, so I sort of poked at it with my shotgun microphone. Not too big, but, you know, one I wouldn’t want to stick my hand in front of its nose. It was about a seven-foot-long alligator. And the recording I got was actually along that boardwalk. Alligator.ĮLLIOTT: Yes, and there are lots of alligators in Okefenokee. They have what’s called “perennial monogamy,” meaning they are monogamous, but they reform their pair bonds each spring.ĬURWOOD: Now when I think swamp, I think gator. And one bird gives a lower, guttural call and the other gives a higher call, a higher sort of doubled-call, and it sounds like “ghroo ka-ka ghroo ka-ka ghroo ka-ka ghroo ka-ka.”ĬURWOOD: Now, Sandhill Cranes mate for life?ĮLLIOTT: Yes they do. That is the unison call of the Sandhill Crane given by mated pairs during the breeding season. Is that a male or female?ĮLLIOTT: It’s actually both sexes. It sort of sounds like something Woody Woodpecker would do.ĮLLIOTT: Another interesting bird in the Okefenokee wet prairies is the Sandhill Crane, which has a marvelous clamoring, guttural call.ĬURWOOD: That’s an interesting call.
![swamp song book frog swamp song book frog](https://i1.wp.com/mammafilz.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/img_3818.jpg)
They’re a very common species in southern swamps.ĮLLIOTT: I love that call. Pileated woodpeckers really love southern swamps, where they nest in hollows or dig out their nest in rotting tree trunks. And it’s the call of the yellow-billed cuckoo, which is a relative of the common cuckoo of Europe that goes “cuckoo, cuckoo.” But this one goes “caup, caup, caup, caup.”ĮLLIOTT: Other sounds included the call and the drum of a pileated woodpecker. I was along a boardwalk on the east side of Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, and one of the first things I recorded was some sound coming from a thicket of shrubs next to the boardwalk. It’s the North American equivalent of being like in a tropical rainforest kind of situation, at least soundscape-wise.ĬURWOOD: What did you see when you were out there? Or record, I should ask.ĮLLIOTT: Well, a variety of things. You have frogs going, you have various wading birds making sounds, you have an abundance of sounds coming from songbirds in the shrubs and patches of trees along the edges of the swamp. If you tried walking out there you’d be over your head in water almost instantly.ĬURWOOD: Why swamps? What attracts you to them?ĮLLIOTT: I love swamps because the soundscape is so remarkable. But those are actually patches of bald Cyprus, and all the open areas is very wet. You’re looking out over a vast open area that superficially looks like an African savanna with patches of trees. What do you see as you look out into the early morning swamp?ĮLLIOTT: Well, this recording was made at the edge of a large wet prairie. Lang, welcome back to Living on Earth.ĮLLIOTT: It’s a pleasure being here, Steve.ĬURWOOD: Lang, now you recorded the sounds we’re hearing at dawn in the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge. He’s a nature recordist and photographer, and he joins me now. The swamp is one of Lang Elliott’s favorites. At almost 400,000 acres, it’s one of the largest wetlands in the United States, and it’s the largest peat-producing bog swamp in North America. The Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge in Georgia is one such place. But many of them are complex ecosystems filled with large numbers of animals and plants. CURWOOD: Swamps have a reputation for being dark and mysterious.