Fire-bellied toads, natterjacks and blue moor frogs
Fire-bellied toad (Bombina bombina), natterjack (Epidalea calamita), moor frog (Rana arvalis, males turn blue), tree frog, green toad in the east; marsh frogs. Mecklenburg lake district, Uckermark, Schorfheide; natterjack on the North Sea coast and heaths, Germany.
Best time: 25 Mar – 7 Apr and 15 Apr – 25 May (March to May). Where: Feldberger Seenlandschaft (Naturpark, Mecklenburg), Müritz National Park – Federow / Rederangsee, Biosphärenreservat Schorfheide-Chorin (Chorin – Brodowin) (Germany). Time of day: Full chorus from dusk, peaking 1–2 h after dark to about midnight.
- You can go on your own
- Free
- No binoculars needed
- Sound 5/5
Open it in the interactive calendarSunrise and sunset listening times for the day you pick, and the map.
When is the best time?
- Peak 1: 25 Mar – 7 Apr — Last days of March to the first week of April: the moor frog burst — males blue for only a few days
- Peak 2: 15 Apr – 25 May — Mid April to late May: fire-bellied toads, natterjacks and tree frogs on warm nights
Active from 10 Mar to 30 Jun (March to June) in a typical year.
Time of day
Full chorus from dusk, peaking 1–2 h after dark to about midnight; fire-bellied toads and moor frogs also call on warm afternoons from about 14:00.
- Night chorus: 30 min after sunset → 00:00
- Warm-afternoon calling: 14:00 → sunset
What will you hear?
Fire-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.
Binoculars?
No binoculars needed. Chorus from the pond edge; a torch finds toads and blue frogs, nothing else.
Where to go
- Feldberger Seenlandschaft (Naturpark, Mecklenburg) — Fire-bellied toads and tree frogs in the kettle-hole ponds (Sölle); lake beech forests with cranes. Map
- Müritz National Park – Federow / Rederangsee — Bombina in flooded meadows and ponds; cranes and eagles; Kranich-Ticket to the Rederangsee hide. Map
- Biosphärenreservat Schorfheide-Chorin (Chorin – Brodowin) — Kettle ponds with Bombina and green toads; ecovillage Brodowin quiet at night. Map
- Wadden coast dune slacks (Sankt Peter-Ording / Amrum) — Natterjack choruses in the dune ponds on warm May nights; national park paths only. Map
How to go on your own, and what it costs
Naturpark Feldberger Seenlandschaft and the Schorfheide-Chorin biosphere trails are open at night; kettle ponds in fields are private — record from the field edge. Müritz: Federow car park and the marked paths (Zone I closed). Dune slacks at Sankt Peter-Ording/Amrum: national park paths only.
Cost: Free.
Field-recording notes
Kettle ponds (Sölle) in farmland are on private land — record from the field edge or ask; Naturpark and Biosphere trails are open at night. Bombina calls are quiet and low (500 Hz), so get within 3–5 m with omnis at water level, and use a hydrophone for the moor frog chorus, which is louder underwater than above. Fire-bellied toads stop below ~12 °C and on windy nights. Farm machinery runs late in May; the Mecklenburg lakes are otherwise very quiet with little traffic. All species are strictly protected (FFH Annex IV) — no capture, no handling, no torch-scanning of the pond for long.
Sources
Similar spectacles
Natterjack toad chorusThe loudest amphibian in Britain — a rolling, ratcheting chorus audible up to 2 km away across dunes.
Natterjack toad chorus on the Kerry dunesA 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-VlaanderenA 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.
Marsh frog & tree frog chorusesWall-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 forestTree 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.
Amphibian chorus of the intermittent lakeWall-to-wall Pelophylax chorus with tree frog 'krak-krak' on top, toad trills, yellow-bellied toad's soft 'poop-poop' from karst puddles, Savi's warbler and bittern in the mix.
More: all spectacles in Germany · frog and toad choruses · Germany in March · Germany in April · Germany in May