A few frogs

[slygecko]

This is for you, Joe (others may look too)

Went out to the local pond spot and was very disappointed to hear only peepers, and a few leopard frogs.

The night chorus: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOEWqCsQ23w

Northern Leopard Frog (Rana pipiens)
Check out those nuptial pads!



Green Frog (Rana clamitans)

Compared with the leopard:


Spring Peeper (Pseudacris crucifer)




A photo of the marsh, at 8 second exposure w/ a flash. It froze Taylor, but not Eric in the background.


Cheers,
Nick

[Salzy]

Those are some nice shots Nick. I'm kinda in the same boat as you for finding the herps up here. Have heard a lot, but haven't seen much of anything. Mostly the same stuff though, peepers and leopard frogs. The other night I did hear a grey treefrog while I was fishing and was pretty stoked about that. We'll see how long it takes me to capture one this year.

[Joe Farah]

I think you did pretty well. Most people have no idea how difficult those peepers are to spot, let alone capture! That big leopard is really nice too. It's amazing how far from water those can be found in the summer.

Great pics Nick, and I love that peeper chorus... it's one of my favorite things about sping in that area

Thanks a lot!

[slygecko]

Originally Posted by Joe Farah

It's amazing how far from water those can be found in the summer.

Hey, I bet you don't know where Green Frogs forage? Here's a hint - it's not at a muddy pond's edge. Take a guess.

Cheers,
Nick

[Joe Farah]

In small creeks that run through fields?

[slygecko]

Originally Posted by Joe Farah

In small creeks that run through fields?

You're a bit off!

Some herpetologists got the bright idea to radio-tag some big Green Frogs and started tracking them. After catching some by the ponds, they went looking for them. The signal lead them into the forest. They narrowed it down to one spot and looked all over. No frog. Finally the looked real close and saw just the frog's face poking out. Turns out, Green Frogs actually forage in the woods or dense old fields, burying themselves in leaf litter and waiting for prey to pass by. After filling up, they return to pond edges to bask in the warm mud, digesting. After a few days of that, they return to the forest to hunt again.

I learned this in my Herpetology class recently. I just looked up the actual citation:

Lamoureux VS, Maerz JC, Madison DM (2002) Premigratory Autumn Foraging Forays in the Green Frog, Rana clamitans. Journal of Herpetology: Vol. 36, No. 2 pp. 245–254

Some passages:

Frogs used a variety of habitats on forays. These included woodlands, shrubby old-fields, wet thickly vegetated pond margins, and meadows. The common factor for all of these habitats was that the vegetation was dense or contained thick leaf litter. Frogs remained well hidden in vegetation or under leaf piles with just their noses visible. Detection of frogs would have been unlikely without the use of telemetry.

In possible opposition to the foraging hypothesis is the return of green frogs to the pond following each foray. If foraging away from the pond is important to frogs during autumn, why do frogs return to the pond instead of remaining and feeding in areas where prey density is high? With the very notable exception of frog #21, who remained in a meadow for 59 days, frogs almost always returned to the pond after a foray. Frogs were also capable of extended periods away from the pond during their overwintering migration. For example, frogs #9 and #13 spent long periods in the woods during their migration (unpubl. data). Therefore, there appears to be no immediate reason for frogs to return to the pond after a foray.

Three possible explanations why frogs return to the pond are reduced predation risk at the pond, hydration, and better basking opportunities. We suspect it is probably a combination of all three factors. Returning to the pond might provide increased safety from predators and water for hydration while basking. Basking has been shown to increase digestion rates in anurans (Lillywhite et al., 1973; Freed, 1980), which can lead to the deposition of more fat (Duellman and Trueb, 1986). Basking is more frequent in the toad, Bufo boreas, after feeding and when a moist substrate is available (Lillywhite et al., 1973). Therefore, green frogs might return to the pond for optimal basking conditions, which would lead to faster digestion, energy storage, and emptying of the stomach for the next foray opportunity.

Thought you would enjoy this cool factoid.

Cheers,
Nick

[baugh]

nice pics. congrats on a good day out

[jackxc925]

that makes sense because whenever i mow my grass, I see dozens of frogs, and I have a huge pond in the backyard too!

[Salzy]

That's interesting Nick. I never knew about that at all. I guess I will have to pay attention for green frogs in the forest. I don't ever recall seeing it before. Thanks for that though, I'll try to check that out and read it myself as well.

[Joe Farah]

I could have guessed all day long and I NEVER would have come up with the answer! That is very interesting...

My parents live alongside yellowbarn state forest (15 mins outside Ithaca) and I used to follow this creek up into it when i was young. There is a place where a powerline cuts through the forest creating a small field. The creek comes out of the forest into this field briefly, then back into the forest again. I always caught green frogs in this little creek in the field that was sandwiched inbetween 2 mature oak forests. I never saw any away from the creek, but now I'm thinking I probably stepped right over (or on!) many of those green frogs buried in the leaf litter in the nearby forest.

That is really cool Nick! That little tidbit is definately the most interesting thing I'll hear all day