This Month in Yellowstone
Boreal Chorus Frog Calling - May 21, 2005

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18

NPS Photo by Erik Hendrickson

Many of the pond edges and wetlands hum with the chorus of frog calls this month. Erik found some boreal chorus frogs calling in plain sight in one wetland and captured these images to share. I am including an excerpt from our Amphibians Page below.

BOREAL CHORUS FROG
Pseudacris triseriata maculata

Identification

• Adults reach 1 to 1 1/2 inches in length, and females are usually larger than males; newly metamorphosed froglets are less than one inch long.
• Brown, olive, tan, or green (sometimes bi-colored) with a prominent black stripe on each side from the nostril through the eye and down the sides to the groin; three dark stripes down the back, often incomplete or broken into blotches.

Habitat

• Common, but seldom seen due to its small size and secretive habits.
• Live in moist meadows and forests near wetlands.
• Lays eggs in loose irregular clusters attached to submerged vegetation in quiet water.

Behavior

• Breeds in shallow temporary pools or ponds during the late spring.
• Calls are very conspicuous, resembles the sound of a thumb running along the teeth of a comb.
• Males call and respond, producing a loud and continuous chorus at good breeding sites, from April to early July, depending on elevation and weather.
• Usually call in late afternoon and evening.
• Tadpoles eat aquatic plants; adults mostly eat insects.
• Eaten by fish, predacious aquatic insect larvae, other amphibians, garter snakes, mammals, and birds.

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18