Habitable places (frogs and toads)

[shadylane]

I have been working on a natural habitat for a few years, it's not easy. But this made my day.

[URL=https://s23.photobucket.com/user/shadylane5acres/media/shadylane5/Blooms%20and%20Treasure%20Finds/tree%20frog%20hidding%20in%20rhubarb%20003_1.jpg.html]

[URL=https://s23.photobucket.com/user/shadylane5acres/media/shadylane5/Blooms%20and%20Treasure%20Finds/tree%20frog%20hidding%20in%20rhubarb%20008_1.jpg.html]

[applestar]

What a cutie! Great photo

[shadylane]

Thank you applestar. The funny thing is I don't know where they are coming from or where they go. I don't have their water habitat needs so it's amazing to me to see them. This is the first green frog..I have seen the gray treefrog

this is a gray treefrog

[puzzlejunky]

How cute! Are you sure one of your neighbors doesn't have a pond?

Two of my neighbors have backyard ponds...so we get dragonflies and American bullfrogs. We participated in frogwatch ( a citizen science where you listen and record local frogs so scientists can keep track of their dwindling numbers. It was fun..google frogwatch usa if you want to track your local frogs.).

Congratulations on your habitat.

[GardeningCook]

Once their breeding season is over, treefrogs - & a number of other frog species for that matter - can be found quite a long distance away from water.

[shadylane]

Puzzlejunky thank you for the frogwatch link I will certainly google that. And No pond around anywhere. There is a small creek 10-15 minute walk down hill from us. So if they can travel that far..here is a few pictures I would like to share where I am at In the heart of Agriculture. Giving an idea why I'm wondering why they are here. There is one picture that shows water but that was a few years ago, and at that only stays for 12 hours then recedes. When the weather clears from showers I will try to take a picture of the location of the creek. Thank you large for the google site.

Also thank you Gardeningcook..I had always thought spring was breeding for frogs But I will have to read up in further studies.

[imafan26]

I got an infestation of greenhouse frogs a few months ago that came from plants from the nursery. I did not know what the chirping noise was from since I don't have frogs or toads usually in my yard, just a lot of geckos and skinks.

[applestar]

I went to that link and found NJ frogs list with sounds they make. I was able to confirm that the noises I've been hearing from the raingutter downspout AT THE 2-STORY ROOF LEVEL is the Grey Treefrog. They also croak near the tops of neighbor's River Birch.... And call to/echo each other.

[GardeningCook]

The Grey Treefrog is, along with the Spring Peeper, our most common treefrog here in Northern Virginia. Talk about masters of concealment!! I can spend hours trying to pinpoint one that always sounds like it's right next to me to no avail. Only once did I manage to catch one (just for a brief examination - no harm done), & that was after a hurricane when we had water pooling down by our barn that the little guy was enjoying as an impromptu swimming hole. They're very attractive in their own way, with their grey mottling & the flash of bright orange on the inner legs.

[shadylane]

Puzzljunky, thanks again for the link,. It lead me to other links...and makes me think more strongly that this is a Eastern gray treefrog. They camouflage with their surroundings. So the little green guy most likely could be Eastern gray treefrog. I also found a this site https://www.mister-toad.com. (humorous title).

Well that is making a little more sense Gardeningcook. I do have their habitat of insects, trees and ground cover but not the breeding pools, which they too need 2 months for eggs and tadpoles to become land stage. Just how far of a long distance would they want to travel?? Seems like a little impossible, but if nature is willing I'm accepting.

Here are a few pics showing distance from me (standing at the end of our drive) and the creek...


This is the East side of the property. Down the hill is the creek..

Creek rides along the tree line along the N.E.

Still along the tree line looking North

And this is the West North West view which you can see the creek running down further yet by following the tree line.

Thank you everyone!

[shadylane]

Yes, I am excited once again.. For weeks I have been wondering what and from whom those distant grunting noises I had been hearing coming from. I was thinking of a medium small animal..but there it was answered in the paper front and center.

My hat goes off in salute to the state of Virginia, they have set the year 2015 for "The Year Of The Frog"
https://www.dgif.virginia.gov/wildlife/v ... for-frogs/

There on the right top is the little barker.
Again I cant explain it but a happy camper to have them...they eat countless insects, "if it moves they eat it"

[GardeningCook]

I am ALWAYS very surprised at the distances both amphibians & reptiles will travel away from home base (aka water).

On our 22 acres, there's a small creek & a small vernal pool at the very very far end of the property. Yet I've found Green Frogs, Leopard Frogs, Wood Frogs, & Spring Peepers right up around the house. And I can't count the number of Painted & Snapping Turtles I've found miles away from any water source (& which I returned to the closest waterways I could find at the time). I know the turtles were females looking for nesting sites, but honestly, they ain't gonna find it curbside on a major highway.

[shadylane]

Like wise GardeningCook, I am not even going to question it "how did they get here". It is just amazing that they have appeared. We have had toads and see them occasionally, as well as the gray tree frog that has been here a few years. Now it's the barking frog, which I thought were three in back area. They could have been near the house, I assumed farther back on the property, We have five acres and with thirty years of planting trees bushes, etc. it is good to know we have done some good for nature's benefit . I would love to have some turtles, perhaps the frogs will get the word out.

Mine as well Marlingardener, every night there is a song of amphibious rhapsody, very peaceful. Having a little farm would be glorious, the many different things one can do.
Thank you ladies I have enjoyed it.

[applestar]

My turn to find a frog I think this is a Spring Peeper (Unless it's a tree frog?)

[GardeningCook]

Yes - that's definitely a Spring Peeper. Positive I.d. thanks to the rough "cross" on its back, thus its scientific name Pseudacris or Hyla "crucifer". Aren't they adorable? I know that Spring is springing when I hear their first breeding calls in late Winter/early Spring - sometimes when there's still snow on the ground.

[shadylane]

Applestar what a super find, Spring Peeper. Had to check him out with his song, when doing so found this site and amazingly found a few frog friends that I recall hearing. It's just by luck we can capture them in a photo isn't?


https://www.naturenorth.com/spring/sound/shfrsnd.html

I have a good feeling that I don't have the Barking Tree Frog but a Green Frog 'Lithobates clamitans' the sounds are similar to the Barking Tree Frog. I will have to do further studies on this find.
By the help of this site I find I have these nature friends

Boreal Chrus Frog 'Pseudacrismaculata'
Gray Tree Frog 'Hyla versicolor'
American Toad 'Anaxyrus americanus'
and perhaps the Canadian toad further studies needed to now for certain.

GardeningCook I had to look up what you had said about waking up into the snow, and found that they survive the winters after having half of their bodies frozen..what a surviver!! Here is a site to confirm your information

https://www.fcps.edu/islandcreekes/ecolo ... peeper.htm

Thank you ladies once more, for sharing your insight and nature finds...I may be lucky enough to capture one of their photos

[GardeningCook]

I actually got to spy a Grey Tree Frog last night after a couple of hours of patience & flashlight work.

Was cooking dinner & kept hearing a LOUD frog call from the large rhododendron right outside the kitchen window. So I'd go out with a flashlight & carefully scan the trunk & branches for awhile until I had to go back in to continue cooking. Around the 3rd or 4th time my flashlight finally found the little devil (they are SO cute) thanks to him bubbling out his silvery little throat in call.

We hear them all the time from late Spring thru early Fall, but in the nearly 20 years we've lived here, this is only the 2nd time I've been able to see one in the flesh. And the first time I've caught one in mid-call.

[applestar]

Look who I found on a pepper leaf yesterday

...actually only about 1 inch - 1-1/2 inch long. Is it a camouflaged a Eastern Grey Toad or some kind of a treefrog?

[applestar]

[applestar]

Last night I was playing the Spring Peeper call I found for DD
https://animals.nationalgeographic.com/a ... ng-peeper/#

DD started to say, "I don't hear anything like that outside...." as the audio clip finished playing. Just then, exact same call was sounded outside the open window -- just about where I saw it yesterday. ...do you suppose it was responding to hearing the audio clip?

[Beverly]

It is lovely to see all the frogs and a reward to you shadylane for all your not-so-easy labors to provide habitat. This is also the primary goal of my small garden, to provide as much native habitat as the space will allow and it is such a happy labor. Of course I have a mess of a garden, but I love it and all the critters that abide therein.

[imafan26]

I have greenhouse frogs in my yard. They are tiny less than 2 inches long. There aren't any bodies of water nearby except what pools in the pots in my yard. Since I water everyday, at least the back yard is always damp. I have a lot of weeds and pots for them to hide in. I hear the frogs chirping now since it is raining outside; the skies are overcast and dawn is just arriving. One surprised me a couple of weeks ago when it was hiding in my pepper pot. Apparently these frogs don't need water to breed. The frogs tadpole stage is completed still in the egg. They prefer to hide in moist mulch and plants and are terrestrial not an arborial species. They eat mostly ants.

https://srelherp.uga.edu/anurans/elepla.htm

[applestar]

[applestar]

Yesterday, I was pruning the overgrown blackberry canes from around the electric and water meters. I like to keep them free of obstructing vines and keep them away from growing behind the boxes and causing structural damage.

Some were spotty, growing from last year's weakened canes, so I ruthlessly cut down those even though they had developing fruits on them. -- they won't grow to any size anyhow and there are PLENTY on the new fresh vigorous canes.

I found a cane that slipped behind the electric meter that were being stubborn about coming out even after clipping both ends, so I grasped it and yanked up - hard - and... A grey tree frog hopped out on top of the meter box!

I yelped "Aaah! I'm sorry! Are you OK?" -- I was so afraid that I might have twisted and mangled its limbs in the process of pulling out the wedged cane and foliage. The way they sit on their tiny legs doesn't help, although a part of my mind was thinking it's actually GOOD that it's sitting properly, and if it was hurt, the leg would be thrown out at a weird angle. I could see it breathing with throat pouch going in and out.

So I stopped trimming around the boxes and left it alone. Hope it was OK and found another place to stay.

[applestar]

I spotted these two tiny tree frogs today. They are only about as big as my thumbnail

[applestar]

This one spotted on a pepper leaf was as big as tip joint of my pinky

[applestar]

I was all excited to see something lumpy in the center of the pineapple rosette because I thought it is starting to grow a flowerbud, then looked closer and saw this frog staring back



...then there was this one on a Falstaff Brussels sprouts leaf that is not doing well -- mostly because I missed the starting/planting timing again, but also because of MASSIVE infestation by the Terrible Trio -- harlequin stinkbugs and cabbage white caterpillars and cross-striped cabbage moth caterpillars.

[sweetiepie]

Frogs are everywhere in my garden and even my yard. My mom just lives two and half hours from me and does not have frogs around. We were picking tomatoes in the garden and she jumped up and back up so many times when they came out of their hiding. I couldn't keep from laughing. Never seen her move so fast. I quess I am use to them. She kept thinking they were mice plus it doesn't help that the frogs attract garter snakes, so there were a few of them also. Love the frogs.

[tomf]

Reptiles like frogs and lizards in you yard are a sign of a health environment from what I have read. We have toads, tree frogs, frogs and lizards all over. Down at the creek there are fish and frogs and an abundance of wild life that comes for a drink. I don't go down to the creek very often as it is a hike through the woods and down a hill, I want to get a better trail to it or a road some time. We have about 1300 feet of a year round creek and some winter creeks as well.

[applestar]

The frogs and toads are awake and calling and driving me batty!

There was one call in particular that was loud and continuous and I just HAD to know what was making that sound. After listening to various recordings, DD and I finally concluded that it must be the Spring Peeper, but not the peeping sound but the comb kind of sound. At first we were saying it sounded like the Upland or Boreal Chorus Frog calls except that ours ended in rising pitch and we weren't hearing the pitch coming back down....

It's mentioned in the description for Spring Peppers as the Aggressive Call and occurs at the end of the recording at this site:
https://musicofnature.com/calls-of-frog ... northeast/
>The aggressive call is a stuttering trill, reminiscent of the calls of chorus frogs: purrrreeeek, usually rising in pitch at the end.


Here are a BUNCH of website links in case they are driving you crazy too.


Manitoba Frog and Toad Calls
https://www.naturenorth.com/spring/sound/shfrsnd.html


Calls of (12) Frogs and Toads of the Northeast - Lang Elliott
https://musicofnature.com/calls-of-frog ... northeast/


NJ Frog and Toad Caller!
https://www.njfrogsounds.com/


DC Frog Calls
https://dcfrogcalls.webs.com/

>Click below one of the fourteen DC-metro area frogs to hear it's call.
Frog calls used with permission of the Virginia Herpetological Society
Frog & toad calls copyright Lang Elliott, NatureSound Studio


The Frogs & Toads of Tennessee
https://www.leaps.ms/soundpage.htm

>Below are listed all 21 species of frogs and toads in Tennessee. Keep in mind that you could still hear a frog or toad outside of the main calling period and that verbal descriptions of sounds vary with the ear of the listener.


ARMI - Frog and Toad Calls
https://www.umesc.usgs.gov/terrestrial/ ... calls.html

>We currently have calls for eleven species of frogs. Click on the thumbnails below to view enlargements of the photographs and to hear calls. Photographs and sound recordings produced by the US Geological Survey, Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center.


Frog Calls of the 23 species of Arkansas frogs and toads.
https://arkansasfrogsandtoads.org/frog-calls/

>What we normally think of as frog calls is the “advertisement call” Frog Calls of a Spring Peepermade by males during the mating season to attract females. Those are the calls listed on this page, and the call that this little Spring Peeper is making with his single vocal sac. Males can also make an “aggressive or territorial call” to keep other males out of their mating area. If a male happens to mount another male or a female that is not ready, the offended frog will make a “release call” to make the offender realize his mistake. And finally, when a frog is attacked by a predator or approached by a human he or she may let out with a “distress call.”

>Frog Calling Phenology (timing)
When do the frogs and toads start to call? This will help you practice before you go out to the pond to monitor.
Late Winter/Early Spring: Wood Frogs; Spring Peepers; Southern Leopard Frogs; Chorus Frogs; Pickerel Frog; Crawfish Frog
Spring: American Bullfrog; Dwarf American Toads; Blanchard’s Cricket Frog
Late Spring/Summer: Fowler’s Toad; Green Frog; All the Treefrogs
Anytime after a heavy rain: Narrow-mouthed Toads, Spadefoots


ADW: Frog Calls
https://animaldiversity.org/collections/frog_calls/
>Here's a diverse set of calling frogs. It is not a complete collection for any place in particular, just species we happen to have sounds for.


USGS Frog Quiz
https://www.pwrc.usgs.gov/Frogquiz/inde ... ain.lookup
Frog Call Lookup
To hear a species select it below using its common or scientific name.
Common Name :
Scientific Name :
To view the species list for a state or province select it below.
State/Province Name :
Please note not all states are available. The image below displays in green the available states.

[applestar]

Tonight, same call was coming from right outside the open kitchen door to the patio and it really really sounds like New Jersey Chorus Frog.
https://www.njfrogsounds.com

[imafan26]

It is a cloudy day today, the greenhouse frogs are singing early.
The coqui frog is an accidentally introduced alien species that is all over the Big Island. There was a large colony around Lake Wilson in Wahiawa but I think they managed to get rid of them there.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZUOiZG84c0

[applestar]

I mentioned elsewhere that the Green frogs disappeared from my pond.

Today, I heard a very loud chorus Frog call from the direction of the pond. When I snuck up, I found these two in there

[applestar]

We had two days of rain followed by a pleasant day and this evening, there is a chorus of frogs out there — cricket-like high pitched tones of Spring Peepers, trilling bursts of chirps from Grey Treefrogs, plucked banjo string sounds from the Green Frog (only one out there so far as I know), and just now, the clicking chorus of Boreal Chorus Frogs....

ID’s based on this site —
https://musicofnature.com/calls-of-frog ... northeast/

[applestar]

I harvested some lettuce — mostly loose single leaves, but one bunched stalk of Vermaine cos lettuce that has started to bolt. I was soaking them in a bucket on the patio to let debris and foreign matter float out... and came back to find something unexpected.



...LOL ... WASH YOUR LETTUCE BEFORE BRINGING THEM INSIDE, PEOPLE!


...DD just pointed out that this is a little Grey Treefrog, doing its best to camouflage itself by turning pink — and she’s right. I thought it was a Spring Peeper.

[applestar]

I have been hearing the resident northern green frog in areas AROUND the pond by not in the usual places along the edge or in it. I suspect he might be on the run and hiding from the raccoons... the funny thing is he still makes the banjo-ribbit call. I heard him by the patio and found him backed up under a Log —


... I guess he doesn’t think that the light-colored hose could be a snake...

[applestar]

After a day and night of heavy rains, Treefrogs were calling from everywhere, and I found this little guy when I was lifting cabbage leaves to check for caterpillars. I hope he likes cabbageworms

[applestar]

This little frog in my little pond found itself an even tinier “pond” to call its own

[applestar]

We had a bit of rain — about 1/4 inch — around 9pm, and humidity will stay near 100% all night. The fireflies are everywhere, and (I’m guessing) three Northern Grey Treefrogs have started a yodeling contest around my pond.

They are unbearably loud in the rooms with open windows facing the pond....

[HoneyBerry]

I saw a craiglist ad for rehoming of 3 tree frogs. They live in an aquarium tank. It is small but with some nice moss, tree branches etc. I wonder if I took them and then let them how they would do? I don't have a clue, but don't like to see frogs confined like that. I wonder if they would be better off outside. I don't know where tree frogs normally live. They are probably from a pet store and might need a warmer climate. I think that I need to pretend like I didn't see this ad.