Some frog calls are so loud that they can be heard up to a mile away.
He also showed slides of his field work and played recordings of frog calls, including a series of clicks between two carpenter frogs about to fight.
Billygonequeer was not only a dab hand at mastering frog calls, for he seemed now to grasp the pronunciation of his new name quite easily, 'William Lanney... William Lanney,' he said, with tolerable accuracy.
The researchers placed the fake frog on an imitation log containing speakers through which they piped in simulated frog calls.
Female frogs will readily approach loudspeakers broadcasting frog calls, demonstrating that it is the call alone that attracts them.
Sound is the means of auditory communication, including frog calls, bird songs and spoken language.
In Northern New England, the seasonal succession of frog calls is a minimalist composition, lasting from about late March until early August.
The variation in frog calls, their pitch and their timing, helps avoid interference; each species tends to have its own frequency, an amphibian version of a radio dial, giving shape to the season for listeners.
"Ebirt" is Tribe spelled backwards (also, note that "ebirt" is analogous to the more commonly heard frog call "ribit"), and "Colonel" comes from the school's historical and geographical ties to Williamsburg, Virginia, specifically that of Colonial Williamsburg.
Mr. Wollney, the chairman of the science department at the Staten Island Academy, has a gift for doing frog calls.