Written by Rachel Putnam, Kroening Center Naturalist
April showers bring May flowers, but spring rains also fill up low spots and create seasonal pools of water called ephemeral wetlands. At North Mississippi Regional Park, you can visit ephemeral wetlands in the prairie to the north of the nature center. These wetlands may only be here a short time, but they provide habitat for a host of different species. American toads are among the animals that depend on ephemeral wetlands to raise their young. In April, male toads emerge from underground burrows where they overwintered and travel up to a mile to find a suitable wetland. There they sing to attract female toads with a high-pitched musical trill that lasts 15-20 seconds. Male toads have an elastic membrane on their throat that becomes inflated while a toad produces its call. This vocal sac amplifies the toad’s mating call, enabling the sound to be heard up to a half mile away. During breeding season males may call both night and day, and female toads follow the calls and select a mate. The females then lay 4,000 to 8,000 eggs in two long strands while the males fertilizes them. Each toad egg is dark when viewed from above and white when viewed from below, and this counter-shading helps to camouflage the eggs and keep them safe from being eaten.
About a week after being laid, the eggs hatch into tadpoles. Tadpoles often swim together in schools to provide protection from carnivorous aquatic insects like giant water bugs, predaceous diving beetles, backswimmers, and dragonfly nymphs. Tadpoles slowly develop hind legs over the first 20 days of life, and it takes another 20 or more days for the front legs to form. In the final stages of external metamorphosis, tadpoles reabsorb their tails, grow lungs, and lose their gills in preparation for life on land. Their mouth and digestive system also change as they prepare to switch from a diet of algae to a carnivorous one. Tiny adult toads, or toadlets, leave the water by the thousands in early summer. Keep your eyes open for these young toads this summer. They are ready for life on land and do not need to be returned to the water, but you can give them a helping hand off the sidewalk. For those toadlets that survive, it will be three years before they return to spring wetlands to begin the cycle all over again.
Visit the park to check out one of the upcoming programs offered at Kroening Nature Center in May and look for signs of spring.
Nature Tots: Green and Growing – Saturday May 4, 10:30-11:30 a.m. Free, ages 2-6 with an adult (activity #3025). The season of green is on its way! Learn about the ingredients needed for seeds to sprout and plants to grow. Explore the woods to see how many different shades of green you can find.
Nature Art: Natural Fiber Weaving – Wednesday May 8, 1-3 p.m. $5/person, ages 18+ (activity #7330). Work with a naturalist to collect grasses and reeds from around the park, learn how to turn them into rope, and weave a piece of art.
Homeschool Day: Flowering Forests – Thursday May 9, 1-3 p.m. $5/person, ages 5-12 (activity #2886). Discover the hidden and unusual flowers of forest trees. Learn to identify some of the common trees in the park, observe the parts of a flower, and go on a walk to find evidence of different parts of a tree’s life cycle.
Family Funday: Water Creatures – Saturday May 11, 10:30 a.m.-noon. Free, all ages (activity #2902). Join a naturalist as we use nets to explore water habitats and look for who lives there, play a game about frogs, and make a frog craft to take home.
Nature Art: Tools and Toys – Saturday May 18, 1:30-3 p.m. Free, all ages (activity #2905). Learn to use non-electric hand tools to turn sticks into a traditional wooden toy or craft something from your own imagination!
Adventure Hub Highlight: Birding – Saturday May 25, 1-2 p.m. Free, all ages (activity #2903). Go on a hike with a naturalist to learn tips about where and how to look for birds. Then check out an Adventure Hub backpack to explore birds on your own.
Drawing Inspiration from Nature – Thursday May 30, 6:30-8:30 p.m. Free, ages 18+ (activity #6497). Join us for an open studio time where artists of all levels are invited to create art in community using models from nature. This session we will have a variety of bird nests available for you to draw or paint. Bring your art materials.