Welcome to the FrogWatch Nova Scotia website!

Our previous FrogWatch program, initiated in 1996, collected information on one species, the Spring Peeper. We are expanding the program to include all the frogs and toads of Nova Scotia. FrogWatch Nova Scotia is working together with each province and territory in Canada, the Canadian Nature Federation, and Environment Canada's Ecological Monitoring and Assessment Network, to establish this exciting Canada-wide amphibian monitoring program.

By participating in this program you will help to increase our knowledge of frogs and toads in the Nova Scotia. Frogs and toads are a part of local biodiversity - the amazing variety of life around us. Conserving biodiversity is essential to the health of the planet and the welfare of humankind. Frogs and toads also have a special role to play in keeping the environment healthy. Perhaps because they live "on the edge" between water and land, frogs and toads are very sensitive to pollution and other environmental changes.

Worldwide, many species are declining in numbers or have recently become extinct. Monitoring frog and toad populations is one way to check the health of wetland areas. Frogs and toads can be used as indicator species, because they are vulnerable to changes in the atmosphere, the land, or the water. Tracking changes in the geographic range, the beginning and ending of the calling season, and the population of frogs and toads in Nova Scotia can help us understand changes occurring in the environment. The most effective way to track changes in frog and toad populations is to listen for their calls during mating season in the springtime. Male frogs and toads call to protect their territory and attract females. Each species of frog and toad has a very distinctive mating call.

We need your help and, if you are not already participating, want you to become a FrogWatch Nova Scotia volunteer observer. Becoming a volunteer is very easy. All you need to do is learn the frog and toad calls, choose a location to listen for calls, record your observations, and send your observations to us via our website. Your information will be entered into a database and you will be able to view a map showing your observation location and the location of other FrogWatch volunteers in the Nova Scotia.

Happy Listening!

Frogwatch was developed by the Nova Scotia Museum of Natural History, The Clean Nova Scotia Foundation and Envirosphere Consultants Limited. Supporters include Environment Canada, Industry Canada, Wildlife Habitat Canada, Canada Trust, Nova Scotia Department of the Environment, Nova Scotia Department of Natural Resources, Seagull Pewter and Unitel and the many volunteers on whom the success of the program depends