June 08, 2006 - When Froggy goes a-courtin'e Suffolk Times • June 8, 2006
en Fro
r i
oes
a- Courtin'
e
Love:'Tree
Suffolk Times photographs by Paul Stoutenburgq
frogs, like chameleons, can
change their color and become cam-
ouflaged. Here a tree frog is sitting on a green leaf and has turned green.
Right: This adult tree frog has changed its color to match the tree it landed
pi "
on. If it were not on the side of the tree,
it would be almost impossible to see
use its color matches so perfectly.;
" z
LAST NIGHT WE WERE just about
I thought these
ready to go to bed when the cat start-
nighttime calls
FOCUS
ed to run from one end of the house
must be coming
to the other. She knew something was
from frogs or
/
outside, so I got a flashlight and went
toads. ONE
' '
out to see what she was so excited
We have an NATURE
about. The night air was full of intrigu-
old irrigation
ing calls. They were not the calls of
pond down in by Pau
birds, though some sounded much like
the pasture that Stoutenburgh
the birdcalls we hear in the daytime
acts like a mag-
from the red- bellied woodpecker, but
net each sprime
Tor all those creatures that use it as a
courting stage. It's here they mate and
the female lays her jelly -like mass of
eggs. With that dome, she no longer
has anything to do with the eggs. The
warmth of the sun incubates them into
tiny tadpoles that in time develop into
toads or frogs.
I just had to find out who was mak-
ing these unusual calls in the night. It
was hard to tell just exactly where the
calls were coming from. I knew the
general direction was from the pond.
Knowing four eyes are better than
two, I went back to get Barbara to
help. It was a beautiful evening, warm
and clear, but pitch black. So there we
were at 11 o'clock at night, the two of
us, sort of stumbling along the uneven
ground of the pasture hoping all the
time we wouldn't step in one of the
cows' "you -know- what "
We didn't want to use our flashlights
thinking the light might scare them.
There were two distinct calls coming
from the pond; one sounded like the
familiar call of the spring peeper. I was
surprised to hear so many peepers still
around, for they start the mating game
much earlier than this. The louder trill
puzzled us a little. We thought we knem
The tree frog's
call sometimes
sounds like
the call of the
red - bellied
tim usher to maze sure.
We shone our lights around and
around and around and still couldn't
find out exactly where these unusual
alls were coming from. It's been said
ese mating calls can be heard a half-
' e away. I believe it. We thought if
we put our lights on them we would be
able to see the reflections in their eyes,
but no — we couldn't spot even one.
Perhaps the; night was too perfect; we
were being sidetracked by its wonder.
We moved in closer and closer, but sti
could not see our caller. We thought at
least we'd see a toad or a frog with its
pouch all inflated as it called, but we
had no luck. We don't usually give up
easily on things like this, but we finally
decided to head back to the house to
see what we could find out from our
reference books.
As I was looking through various
field guides and other references on
toads and frogs, Barbara went to her
computer. She was able not only to
pull up photographs of all the toads
and frogs, but the computer brought
up their calls as well. While she had
the calls playing from the computer,
she could still hear the mysterious
calls down in the pond and, sure
enough, one of the calls matched.
First we'd hear it on the computer,
then we'd hear it down in the pond. It
was kind of weird.
This proved we were right about
what we thought we had heard calling:
It was the gray tree frog. There was
no mistaking it. What a song they did
sing, all in hopes of luring a lady fair
to mate with them. Tree frogs, as the
name implies, live mostly in the tree-
tops, but come down to standing water
such as our pond, where the males lure
the females into mating.
And so we had an interesting and
exciting hour with our night call-
ers and solved the mystery that had
bugged us for the past week or so.
And to think we would have missed
it if it weren't for our cat going a little
berserk that night. We were sure she
heard something outside. Was it the
unusually loud chorus of the frogs
I sne heard? The last time she became
so excited, we found her peeking out
into the yard between the closed liv-
ing room curtains. When we pulled the
curtains back, there was a big raccoon
having his evening drink of water from
our fishpond just under the window.
The tiny tree frog moves about in the
trees and shrubbery by jumping from
imb to limb. The reason they
an_do this so freely is that
he ends of their toes are
ike suction cups. Not many
redators can jump like that. hese frogs they have an-
ther trick to escape detec-
tion-They can change color
to match their surroundings,
It's a remarkable little animal. If it jump
onto the gray -white bark of a white
oak, it soon turns that color; if its on the
green leaf of, say, a rhododendron, it will
turn green. With this ability to change
color, it can easily go unnoticed. Such
are the marvels ofnature.
Remember, the tree frog's call
sometimes sounds like the call of the
red - bellied woodpecker, so keep your
sars and eyes on alert, for you might
ust see a tree frog or-hear a red -bel- .
apeakmg of birdcalls, let m- e
you about our windmill, which has an
attraction for ospreys. It's usually in
the morning when we first hear their
high- pitched calls as they maneuver
about to see who has earned the
privilege of landing on the very top
of the windmill. But it's not for long.
Soon another will glide in, and the one
perched atop is forced to
leave while the aggressor
takes the honored spot. All
this time, other ospreys are
circling about, calling in
their high - pitched osprey
call.
Needless to say, the
windmill is not turning, for
I have it tied down until we can get
time to pull the pump out and replace
the leather washers that have worn
out through years of pumping. I'm not
sure why these ospreys play "King of
the Hill (Windmill )" and scream away
as they go through their antics. I don't
know if they are our local ospreys —
we have an active nest a quarter -mile t
the southwest of our house — or if the
ire just nonbreeders trying to locate
I spot to build a future nest. Well just
lave to watch