Tom Foote wrote:

>Interesting picture, BTW, on p. 145 of Seattle Audubon Society's
>The Trailside Series book *Amphibians of Washington and Oregon*,
>by William P. Leonard et al, of a bullfrog swallowing a duckling..
>they are formidable predators and likely suspects in your scenario..

I have recently been involved in an interesting exchange on the amphibian
decline list server. The subject was removal (mostly killing) of introduced
bullfrogs where they are believed to be harming native species. Cecil
Schwalbe is one of the more knowledgeable individuals involved with the
prolonged effort on the San Bernardino National Wildlife Refuge (in Arizona)
to reduce numbers of introduced bullfrogs to protect native species. At the
risk of sensationalizing this one element of the many that effect native
wildlife in these recently and rapidly altered environments, here is an
interesting snippit from his message to me:


Cecil Schwalbe of the National Biological Service, University of Arizona wrote:

>I have been away for a week or so and returned to find some interesting
(some amusing) >exchanges on dispatch of bullfrogs. Your observation of
bullfrogs jumping after >low-flying birds has been confirmed by at least one
Arizona Game and Fish Department >employee and this past Memorial Day
weekend we caught two bullfrogs with a bat in each >of their stomachs (with
one bat wing protruding from the mouth in both cases)and >another bullfrog
with a northern rough-winged swallow in its stomach. A black phoebe >and a
house finch were found in other stomachs. We have confirmed that bullfrogs
there >eat every class of vertebrate that occurs in the area, from several
species of snakes >and lizards and a Sonoran mud turtle to birds, bats and
rodents, leopard frogs, fellow >bullfrogs, and fishes. Some of the noxious
invertebrates consumed are impressive also, >including tarantula hawks
(pompilid wasps) and scorpions.

Kelly McAllister
Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife
alleyes at mail.tss.net