A Guide to California's
Reptiles and Amphibians

Sounds of Spea intermontana - Great Basin Spadefoot

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Advertisement Calls

An advertisement call is the most well-known call of a frog. It is produced by a male during the breeding season to attract females of his own species. It can also serve an agressive function to defend his calling site by warning rival males of his presence. Frogs usually make the calls around bodies of water that are suitable for breeding and egg laying. These calls can be heard during the evening and at night, and sometimes during daylight at the peak of the breeding season.

The call of a Geat Basin Spadefoot is a short 1-3 note duck-like snoring sound. Compared to the sound of a flock of ducks slowed down. Calls at night.

This is a 13 second recording of the advertisement calls of one Great Basin Spadefoot at close range with a second in the background. The spadefoots were calling from a small temporary pool in an agricultural area of Franklin County, Washington at night in late May. Crickets, a barn owl screech, and farm equipment are heard in the background.

This is a 21 second recording of a distant chorus of a large group of Great Basin Spadefoots recorded at night in an agricultural area of Franklin County, Washington in late May (shown below.)

This is a recording of one advertisement call made by a male spadefoot at night on the shore of a shallow pool in Grant County, Washington (shown below.)

This is a 27 second recording of advertisements call made by a small group of male spadefoot at night on the shore of a shallow pool in Grant County, Washington (shown below.)

Waveform and Sonogram

This is a recording of a single advertisement call of a Great Basin Spadefoot recorded at night in Grant County, Washington. The image on the right is a visual representation of this call. Click on it to see a larger image. Click here for information about how to read the waveform and sonogram images.

Short Videos

Male spadefoots call at night from a shallow stagnant pool in central Washington. (Long Version)	Male spadefoots call at night from a shallow stagnant pool in central Washington. (Short Version)

You can listen to more sounds of Great Basin Spadefoots on this cd:

Carlos Davidson - Frog and Toad Calls of the Pacific Coast - Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology

and on the cd that comes with this book:

Lang Elliott, Carl Gerhardt, and Carlos Davidson - The Frogs and Toads of North America - Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

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