Stink and the Freaky Frog Freakout (Book #8) (3 page)

“Mostly amphibians,” said Jasper. “Luckily, they eat all the mosquitoes.”

“Amphibians are my favorite!” said Stink. “Especially frogs. Also skinks. And newts. I even make up comics about this superhero called Stink Frog.”

“Sounds cool. What does he do?”

“Mostly he fights slime. But he’s really good at swimming and he can put his head all the way under and he can jump higher than the Empire State Building. And once he saved the earth from a giant spitball. You know, like Spider-Man and the asteroid.”

“So, you’re into Spider-Man?” said Jasper. “I used to collect Spider-Man comics.”

“Really? My dad did, too. I’m reading some of his from the seventies!”

Dad nodded. “Stink, let’s give Jasper a chance to tell us about the pond.”

“This is a vernal pool,” said Jasper. “That means it’s a wetland that’s here mostly from rain and melted snow. Vernal pools are great habitats for all kinds of frogs, toads, turtles, and salamanders.”

“I have a Stuffed Animal Baby named Salamandra,” Sophie chimed in. “Made of crushed orange velvet.”

They walked out onto a short wooden dock that jutted out over the pond. “Shh!” said Jasper. He pointed. Five painted turtles sunned themselves on a rock. A small blue-tailed skink darted across the dock. Two red dragonflies dipped and dived over the pond. Water striders skipped across the surface.

“Is that a stick bug?” asked Stink, pointing to a bug that looked like a stick.

“A stinkbug?” said Webster, holding his nose closed.

“That’s a water scorpion,” said Jasper. He took them down to the banks of the pond and lifted up some leaf litter. Curled up underneath was a black salamander with yellow spots.

“Spotted salamander?” Dad asked.

“Yep. They’re making a comeback,” said Jasper.

Jasper let everybody dip nets and buckets in the water. “Dip your bucket in, take a look, and then put it back,” said Jasper.

Sophie caught a fairy shrimp in her bucket. Webster caught a diving beetle. And Stink caught . . . a stick.

A stick with glup on it. “Hey! There’s a polka-dot jellyfish on my stick,” said Stink, pointing to a clear jelly-like glob on the stick.

“Looks like it could be an egg mass of the spotted salamander,” said Jasper. “Hopefully each one of those polka dots will hatch into a salamander.” He carefully set the stick back in the water.

They walked all the way around to the other side of the pool.

“I think I hear a frog!” said Stink.

“You should hear it just after dark,” said Jasper. “It’s like a frog party out here. I know technically it’s still winter, but in the heart of a frog, it’s spring.” He reached down and scooped up a brown leaf.

The brown leaf was a frog!

“This is a wood frog,” said Jasper. “It’s more brown than other frogs, and it has a dark mask behind each eye. They sound like,
Craw-awk, craw-awk!
We catch them and study them and it teaches us stuff about the frogs.”

“Craw-awk!”
Stink croaked.
“Craw-awk!
”

“Frogs have been popping up all over the place at our house lately,” said Dad.

“We’ve been getting calls about that,” said Jasper. “Frogs are popping up all over town. Their habitats are shrinking from so much building going on in our area. And with climate changes, there aren’t as many wetlands and vernal pools, so frogs seek out water wherever they can find it.”

“Stink found a frog in the shower at the pool!” said Sophie.

“And it only had three legs!” said Stink.

“I’m sorry to hear that,” said Jasper. “Unfortunately, we’re finding more and more frogs that have something wrong with them.” He shook his head. “It’s not a good sign.”

“Really?” asked Stink. “I thought his leg just got eaten by a big bad bird.”

“I’m afraid not. All kinds of weird things happen to frogs because of fertilizer, pesticides, and pollution in the water. C’mon back to the center and I’ll show you.”

At the nature center, Jasper showed them not-normal frogs in tanks. One frog had an extra leg and one had what looked like a crooked tail. Stink picked up one that had three eyes.

“Freaky-deaky!” said Stink. “Does this one have a name?”

“Not that I know of,” said Jasper.

“I dub you King Otto the Second,” said Stink. Jasper laughed.

“Weird,” said Webster. “You can see through that one. Casper the Friendly Ghost Frog.”

“Casper the
Freaky
Ghost Frog,” said Sophie. Webster cracked up.

“These frogs have a hard time making it in the wild,” said Jasper. “They’d probably just get eaten.”

“Oosh. Being a frog is no bed of roses,” Stink said.

“You sound like Spider-Man!” Jasper said.

Stink grinned.

“So that’s why we rescue any abnormal frogs and study them. Here at the center, we have all kinds of efforts to save the frogs.”

“That’s great. Isn’t it, Stink?” Dad said. Stink nodded.

“You know, if you’re really into frogs, you should come to the First Annual Frog Neck Lake Frog Count next Friday night. It’s perfect weather for counting frogs.”

“Really?” Stink asked.

“Sure! We’re concerned that the number of frogs in our area is down, so a bunch of us are meeting up at Frog Neck Lake to count frogs at night.”

“A frog stakeout!” said Stink. “Do you stay up late and drink coffee and stuff?”

“Sure. Hot chocolate, too.”

“But how do you see the frogs at night?” Webster asked.

“You don’t see them. You
hear
them. You learn to identify each frog by its call. Then you count which ones you hear.”

“Sounds interesting,” said Dad.

“Can we come, too?” asked Webster.

“The more the merrier. We need all the help we can get. But one of you will have to learn some frog calls. I can show you a website that has all the frog sounds. Also, you have to pass a quiz before I can sign you up.”

“Quiz? I love tests,” said Stink.

“It’s true. He really does,” Dad said, nodding.

“What do frogs do with math a test?” Stink asked.

“I don’t know. What?” said Jasper.

“They Rip-it! Rip-it!” said Stink. Stink cracked himself up.

Pree-eep! Craw-awk! Sque-enk!

Stink listened to frog calls on the computer. He listened to frog sounds that he taped with his own tape recorder (by sticking it out the window at night!). Stink listened to frog calls on the way to school Monday morning and in the car on the way to swim lessons.

Pre-eep! Craw-awk! Sque-enk!
At swim practice, he tried some out on his friends.

“You sound like a duck,” said Webster.

“You sound like a squeak toy,” said Sophie.

“You sound like a sick banjo,” said Riley.

“Thanks!” said Stink. “See, spring peepers sound like squeak toys. And wood frogs sound like ducks quacking.”

“You’re quacked,” said Webster. Sophie and Riley cracked up.

“You guys sound like Southern leopard frogs. A leopard frog sounds like a person laughing. No lie.”

“Yeah, but nothing sounds like a sick banjo,” said Riley.

“Nothing except for the Northern green frog. It sounds like a loose banjo string. You know, like a rubber-band twang.”

“You sure are freaky for frogs,” said Riley.

“Thanks!” said Stink.

“You should marry a frog, you like them so much.”