Frog calls

It was my privilege to be able to spend time in the outdoors observing amphibians and reptiles. In the course of that work I recorded many species. These are a sample of those recordings from frogs found in the eastern part of the northern United States. The recordings and photos are all mine, unless specifically noted. I share my work freely with acknowledgement and you may see these and other recordings on other web sites.

Green Frog (Lithobates Clamitans)

A medium sized frog with green skin and dark spots — Green frog from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan

This call has been described as the plucking of a loose banjo string. It is sometimes a single energetic call, but can also produced as a series of calls. There is also a release call. This call is produced when a frog is grabbed by another (amplexus) and the grabbed individual wants to be let go. I find these calls to be similar across species.

Leopard Frog

This frog’s call can be complex. It generally begins with a series of “chucks” followed by a long set of pulses that are described as the sound of running a finger across a balloon.

Wood Frog

A medium sized brown frog with a white bar across the lip — Two wood frogs calling in the early spring

The wood frog is generally the first frog to begin calling in the spring. Their calls a series of chucks and the males generally gather in cluster calling near each other, as pictured above.

American Toad

A medium sized toad calling to attract females with the vocal sac in its throat inflated. — A calling American toad with its vocal sac inflated.

American Toads produce long trills that I associate with the beginning of summer.

Gray tree Frog

There are two nearly identical species of gray tree frogs, which have two things that diagnose them. One is the number of sets of chromosomes, which is hard to determine in the field. The other is the rate of pulse production of the trill of the call. These caveat is to tell them apart you need to compare calls produced at the same temperature. I don’t have the data to tell you which species this is precisely.

Spring peeper

A small brown frog with expanded toe tips and an x-shaped mark on its back. — **Spring Peeper (Pseudacris crucifer) by** **Peter Paplanus** **(CC-by license via Flickr)**

As the name implies this frog is a indicator of the arrival of spring. Being in the middle of a large peeper chorus can be almost painful though sadly choruses of this size is increasing hard to find.

Northern Chorus Frog

A small brown frog with three strips on its back with the vocal sac in its throat inflated. — A calling chorus frog

Chorus frogs produce a short ascending trill and is one of my favorite calls.