May 23, 2024, 10:58 a.m.

❧ Interlude: Frogs

The Right Number

Welcome back.

This is Lucy Bellwood bringing you the latest installment from The Right Number, a voicemail box that sometimes asks you questions and sometimes gives you a little break.

Diligent callers might’ve caught the last prompt, which was about hiding places; so hidden, in fact, that I forgot to send a newsletter update about it. And then I couldn’t think of a follow-up prompt, so things lay fallow for a while.

A week ago I was taking a much-needed evening walk and realized that I could simply share a snippet of my surroundings with you via the magic of the telephone, which is what I’m doing now.

Dial 1-503-673-6267 to listen in. Those are Baja California Treefrogs you’re hearing. If you’d like to hold your phone up to the sky wherever you are for a few seconds after the beep, I’d love to listen back.

Ribbit,

Lucy

P.S. The call of this particular frog was frequently used as a nighttime background sound in old Hollywood movies (even those set in areas well outside the species’ range). See if you can spot it next time.

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