Frogging time of Year!

These past few days we've had warm temperatures which spurred breeding season for Western Chorus Frogs here in northeastern Indiana. There are a few other frog species that start calling here prior to chorus frogs (wood frogs & spring peepers), but we did not get out to document those. Arrowhead Marsh is within walking distance from our house so we walked over there two days ago to investigate the loud cacophony we heard from our yard. The preserve consists of forested wetland, wetland and prairie.

In the forested wetland area...


we heard intense frog calling and searched for the makers...

they are quite small & camouflaged making it a challenge...binoculars & scope help...

but at last we had success! A calling western Chorus Frog! These guys and gals are about 3/4-1 1/2 inches long, normally with 3 dark stripes down the back. Shallow bodies of water such as this seasonal (ephemeral) wetland at Arrowhead Marsh are required for breeding and the development of tadpoles (frog babies), but otherwise the chorus frogs survive in a wide variety of habitats including some greatly altered by humans. Look at this cutie!

You can roughly imitate the sound of a calling W. chorus frog by running your finger along a pocket comb. We captured the calling with the audio feature of our camera. Check it out here. (NOTE: you will need to click the back button to return to the post.) In the wetland outside the woods we also saw numerous green-winged teal, mallards, Canada geese and a few northern pintails. You can hear the geese calling as well in our audio clip.

We spied a couple other non-calling frogs in the forested wetland as well. Below you will see a Northern Leopard Frog - a frog listed on the endangered species list in Indiana as a species of special concern. Frogs are good indicators of environmental health due to their porous skins. If there are toxins in the water or the air, they will be one of the first species to succumb to deformities or death. Due to this reason, a number of groups sprung up to monitor frogs and their habitats. A great one to check out is Frogwatch USA. We've been monitoring frogs for many years now and it is GREAT fun. Check it out - if you've not ever done so - for fun, the frog's health and your own!


While heading back to our house we once again heard the chortling of Sandhill Cranes, looked up and saw this...