Out after the rain

  

We had to move some material on the ground today (15 January 2024), and look who was underneath!

Nice to see this beautiful Sierran Treefrog (Pseudacris sierra)...and it reminded me to check our rainfall totals.  So far we've received ~12 inches of rain, or about 38% of the average annual total.  Frogs have been quite vocal throughout our neighborhood.  Have you been hearing them in yours?

New legs and an old tail

  

 A tadpole with hind legs (above)...

 and a frog with a tail (below):

 

 

Sierran Treefrog (Pseudacris sierra) photographed 3 July 2021.

Leap of faith

 

At various times in the past, Eric has challenged me to find and photograph a frog for leap year.  I'm happy to say that 2020 is the year I was successful!

 

Here's the crazy thing.  This is the most common frog in our area, but I'm not sure what to call it.  The taxonomy is confusing and obviously more work is needed to sort out this issue.  

I'll call it a Sierran Treefrog (Pseudacris sierra) for now...but you might also see it called a Pacific Treefrog (Pseudacris regilla), and you might see the scientific name as Hyliola sierra.  In previous posts I have also called it a Pacific Chorus Frog, but the official checklist of the Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles (2017) uses treefrog, so that's what I'll use.

Happy 2020 Leap Year!

Spring transition

After field work near Mendocino on Sunday, we were walking up a coastal bluff and noticed some shallow pools off to the side of a small stream running along the rocks towards the ocean.  Looking down, some movement caught our eye:

 

Little wriggling tadpoles!

We followed the stream up to a small wet seep near the bluff.  Soon we saw tiny, newly-metamorphosed froglets (~1 cm long) jumping among the vegetation.

This one landed and nestled on the leaf of a Seep Monkeyflower (Mimulus guttatus):

 

And here's one with wet feet:

 

Good luck little treefrogs!

Go Green

 

While doing some gardening yesterday, Eric looked down into a clay pot and spotted a small Sierran Treefrog (Pseudacris sierra).  We were enjoying the view, when the frog leaped onto Eric's t-shirt!  

P.S.  Eric's Boston Celtics shirt seemed like an appropriate background for this frog...especially since we've been rooting for the Celtics in the playoffs.  Go Green!

0.12

 

0.12 inches — of rain, that is!  I'm guessing this Pacific Treefrog (Pseudacris regilla) was happy about the rainfall last night and this morning.

Here's a close-up of its wonderful toe pads:

 

CORRIGENDUM (21 September 2014): Originally this post was called "0.4" and I said that 0.4 inches of rain had fallen.  Jim pointed out that much less rain fell in Bodega Bay.  I'm not sure what happened, as I thought I had checked the measurement data, but somehow something got mixed up.  I want the record to be right, so I edited the post to read the correct amount of 0.12 inches of rain.

An advertisement and an encounter

Although I recorded this on 6 December, it seems appropriate to share it while listening to raindrops on a wet, soon-to-be-winter's night.

Do you recognize this species?


6december by nhbh

 
The recording features two different calls of Pacific Chorus Frogs (also called Pacific Treefrogs).  [It's one recording that repeats.]

Most of what you're hearing is an advertisement call.  It's a two-part call, sometimes written as rib-it, rib-it (or krek-ek, krek-ek — you can choose what suits your ears best!).

The second call is more subtle.  If you listen very carefully at ~2 seconds and again at ~10 seconds you can hear the trilled encounter call.  According to californiaherps.com, this call is given by males to establish spacing when a chorus begins or later if another male approaches (or calls) too closely.

I didn't get any pictures that night, but here are a few of a Pacific Chorus Frog on Bodega Head in May 2012.

 

 

 

Are you hearing Pacific Chorus Frogs at wetlands near you?

P.S.  For more information and pictures of this species, check out the post from 17 March 2012.