Men With Flashlights and Audio Tapes Here

By Dan Rattiner

On Monday, I got an email from Andy Sabin of Amagansett, one of the great environmentalists of this community. It was about leopard frogs. I include in this report a picture of a leopard frog, although the last one seen in New York State was by Andy himself, carrying a tape recorder and a flashlight, on a frog walk in 1991.

"Frogs all over the world are dying," Andy told me over Sunday dinner the night before. "And one of the frog species that has become endangered is the leopard frog. They used to be in great abundance, mostly in New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland, with some as far north as Long Island and Westchester.

"And now, there hasn't been one seen in this state since 1991. But this is going to be the week."

Andy told me that environmentalists all over the New York City metropolitan area were going to be out in shifts, 24 hours a day, seven days a week for the next week, making one great attempt to find a leopard frog.

The email he sent to me on Monday morning had been sent to him -- he was forwarding it. The author was a professor at Rutgers named Jeremy Feinberg. The email had been sent not only to Andy, but also to about 50 other people with email names such as Python615, Audubon, BeachTowel and Tgreen, which bore email extensions that read .org, .edu or .gov, but not .com. The subject was "Important Leopard Frog Update for Monday."

"Today (Monday, April 23) is probably going to be the single best day of the season for finding leopard frogs this year. If you were mulling over a day to finally get out, this is it!!! Although the time around sunset is best, I will be searching all day because leopards can (and will) call outside of their 'prime time' window."

"I have attached the sound clip of their call once again as a refresher. This is what you should focus on. I recommend going to a pond, listening thoroughly for five minutes at each part of the pond until you've 'heard' the whole pond and then rapidly moving on to the next site. It is not necessary to spend a lot of time at a single pond if you are not hearing the calls......."

Monday came and went without a sighting. The people were out with the flashlights in the woods after dark. Now it is Tuesday. And as Andy had said, the rest of the week would be prime leopard frog sighting days.

So the great search -- people with flashlights and tape recorders moving slowly through the woods -- is on and will continue through this weekend. If you are one of those out there on the hunt and you hear the call or see a leopard frog, you will be the first person to see one in New York State in eighteen years. Call (917) 482-3705. Meanwhile, you can hear a recording of the call of the elusive leopard frog on Dan's Blog at danshamptons.com. Good luck.

Incidentally, it is not fair to buy a leopard frog from a store and plant it in the Hamptons. Leave the environment alone. Just go out and see if you can find one, fair and square.