STEVE RUNDIO
Most people have likely never seen a Blanchard's cricket frog.
They're hard to find. For one thing, they're only an inch long.
"They're tiny little guys," said Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources biologist Rori Paloski.
More significantly, their numbers are declining.
The frog crossed the DNR's radar earlier this year when the agency agreed to Xcel Energy's request to perform maintenance on an electrical line in the La Crosse marsh. The DNR confirmed the presence of the frog but determined the project would result in an "incidental take" and "is not likely to appreciably reduce the likelihood of the survival or recovery of the species within the state."
Paloski said frog numbers have declined considerably over the past half-century.
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"In the 1950s, it was one of the most common frogs in Wisconsin," she said. "The species used to be really common in Wisconsin until the 1960s and 70s. That's when people started noticing a drastic decline in their populations."
At its peak, the frog was common across the southern half of Wisconsin, Paloski said. Now, the remaining populations are concentrated in Grant, Lafayette and Iowa counties and areas along the Mississippi River as far north as Buffalo County. She said the species resides in open canopies like those in the La Crosse marsh.
Paloski said winter is a critical time for the frog, when it searches for an existing hole to spend the winter. She said the frog, unlike some of its larger cousins, is too small to dig its own dwelling. The species can't withstand prolonged exposure to freezing temperatures.
"They really have to find that micro-habitat that's around 33 degrees," she said.
Paloski said the best place in the region to see a Blanchard's cricket frog is boat landings along the Mississippi River. Visitors are more likely to hear the frog than see it. She said the frog's mating call "sounds like two marbles banged together."
"It's pretty unique once you've
heard it a few times," she said.
The frog, one of 12 species in Wisconsin, doesn't have federal conservation status but is listed in Wisconsin and Minnesota as endangered. Entering this winter, Paloski said the species was "starting to hold its own." However, she said biologists are concerned about how the frog's numbers will hold up during a winter in which very little snow has fallen in the state. La Crosse just set a record for its driest January ever.
She said the frog has an important place in the state's ecosystem. She said it feeds on mosquito larvae and other insects and is prey for larger animals, including fish, birds, reptiles and other frogs.
"It's one of those species that gets overlooked sometimes because it's so small," Paloski said. "If they can survive this winter, we hope we can start to restore it to its previous habitat."
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