23.04.18 – Adam Laschinger – The Frogs of Little River, Beaverdam, VA – 14:58 – 320 kbps
“You really should hear the frogs,” suggested our hosts. They had taken us to their country house on a warm evening in May 2017, situated beside Little River, Beaverdam, Virginia.
Late that evening, we were led down the lawn, through the darkness towards the river nearby, a few hundred yards from the house. As we neared the water, we began to hear calls from a large scattered array of frogs, littering the shallows of the near and far banks of the river. Two main species were present; the Green Frog (Lithobates clamitans) was the most common, its twangy call sometimes compared to a loose banjo string. This call is often repeated a few times, each decreasing in volume. The other call, a more sporadic, slightly comedic deep tenor is from the American Bullfrog (Lithobates catesbeianus).
Naturally, I wanted to get a recording. Problematically, my sound equipment had been left in Durham, North Carolina, two hundred miles away. I was over from the UK working on a documentary in NC and I only had a phone without additional mics, so had to make do.
The next day, listening back to the functional recording I’d made on my phone was deeply underwhelming. I decided that I really needed to drive back to Durham, get my sound kit and return to Little River and have another go the following night.
This recording was made with a spaced pair of DPA 4018s into a Zaxcom Nomad.
Photography: Siemon Allen.
Many thanks to Siemon Allen, Kendall Buster, Noah Angell, Kay Dickinson Pascal Wyse and The Virginian Herpetological Society.
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