Frog and toad choruses of the Mittelland marshes

European tree frog (Hyla arborea; Hyla intermedia in Ticino), water frogs (Pelophylax), common and natterjack toad, yellow-bellied toad, midwife toad (bell-like night calls). Grande Cariçaie, Neeracherried (Zürich), Reuss delta (Uri), Ticino, Switzerland.

Best time: 20 Apr – 31 May (April to May). Where: BirdLife-Naturzentrum Neeracherried (Zürich Unterland), Champ-Pittet / Grande Cariçaie (Yverdon), Reuss delta (Flüelen, Uri) (Switzerland). Time of day: Chorus from dusk, full volume 1–2 h after dark to about midnight.

• You can go on your own
• Low cost
• No binoculars needed
• Sound 4/5

Open it in the interactive calendarSunrise and sunset listening times for the day you pick, and the map.

When is the best time?

Peak: 20 Apr – 31 May. 20 April to end of May for tree frogs and water frogs; common toads in the first mild March nights

Active from 10 Mar to 30 Jun (March to June) in a typical year.

Time of day

Chorus from dusk, full volume 1–2 h after dark to about midnight; at Neeracherried use the airport curfew (23:30–06:00), so the hour before midnight and the pre-dawn hour are cleanest.

• Night chorus: 30 min after sunset → 00:00
• Pre-dawn calling: 1 h before first light → first light

What will you hear?

Tree frog 'krak-krak-krak' volleys carrying a kilometre, water frog chorus, midwife toad's single flute notes from stone walls, natterjack ratchet in gravel pits, bittern and cuckoo behind.

Binoculars?

No binoculars needed. Chorus from bridges and hides after dark; a torch finds tree frogs, nothing else.

Where to go

• BirdLife-Naturzentrum Neeracherried (Zürich Unterland) — One of the last big lowland marshes; hides; tree frogs and water frogs; under the Zürich airport approach. Map
• Champ-Pittet / Grande Cariçaie (Yverdon) — Tree frogs and water frogs in the reed-marsh ditches; trails open at night. Map
• Reuss delta (Flüelen, Uri) — Restored delta on Lake Lucerne; water frogs, tree frogs; the A2 and railway are close but tunnelled. Map

How to go on your own, and what it costs

Neeracherried: the BirdLife centre's hides need the centre's ticket in opening hours; the public paths and bridges around the marsh are free at night. Champ-Pittet: public trails, free. Reuss delta: the delta paths from Flüelen station, free.

Cost: Free on public paths; BirdLife-Naturzentrum Neeracherried hide entry CHF 8 adult (2026).

Field-recording notes

Swiss wetlands are small and ringed by infrastructure: Neeracherried is under the Zürich approach (quiet only 23:30–06:00 during the night curfew), Champ-Pittet has the Yverdon road, the Reuss delta has the Gotthard rail line. Choose the curfew hours. All amphibians are protected; the reserves forbid leaving the paths, so ditch-side recording is from bridges and hides — a hydrophone dropped from a boardwalk is the best close capture of water frogs. Midwife toads are a night-time garden/wall sound in the Jura villages.

Sources

• BirdLife-Naturzentrum Neeracherried
• karch – Swiss amphibian and reptile conservation

Similar spectacles

• Natterjack toad chorusUnited Kingdom · Amphibian chorus · peak 15 Apr–31 MayThe loudest amphibian in Britain — a rolling, ratcheting chorus audible up to 2 km away across dunes.
• Natterjack toad chorus on the Kerry dunesIreland · Amphibian chorus · peak 20 Apr–25 MayA loud, ratcheting 'rrrrRup, rrrrRup' chorus from dozens of males in shallow dune pools — the loudest amphibian in these islands — with the Atlantic surf behind the dunes and snipe overhead.
• Tree frog choruses of Zeeuws-VlaanderenNetherlands · Amphibian chorus · peak 1 May–31 MayA rattling, surprisingly loud 'kè-kè-kè-kè' chorus from hundreds of tree frogs around the old fortress moats and pools — audible across the polder — with marsh frogs and nightingales behind; the ramparts of Retranchement alone hold a few hundred.
• Fire-bellied toads, natterjacks and blue moor frogsGermany · Amphibian chorus · peak 25 Mar–7 Apr and 15 Apr–25 MayFire-bellied toad's melancholy 'uh...uh' by the hundred over shallow pasture ponds, moor frog's bubbling 'waug-waug' underwater chorus, natterjack's ratcheting trill carrying 2 km across dune slacks, tree frogs at full volume, bittern and crane in the background.
• Marsh frog & tree frog chorusesFrance · Amphibian chorus · peak 25 Apr–10 JunWall-to-wall marsh frog laughter from the Camargue ditches, ratcheting tree frogs from Brenne ponds, and natterjacks rolling across the Landes dune slacks.
• Frog nights in the Danube floodplain forestAustria · Amphibian chorus · peak 15 Apr–31 MayTree frog volleys and fire-bellied toads' soft hooting from the oxbows (Altarme), marsh frog laughter, night herons croaking overhead, nightingale and beaver tail-slaps; Danube barges as a slow low bed.

More: all spectacles in Switzerland · frog and toad choruses · Switzerland in April · Switzerland in May