Cricket Frog

Thursday, March 26th our class visited Rush Run in Sommerville, OH about fifteen minutes outside of Oxford. It was a cool day and it had been raining the day before and that morning. We visited two ponds that were in a field with tall grass. In the second pond we visited I found a Blanchard's cricket frog, Acris crepitans, in the grass surrounding the pond. These frogs are about 1 in. long and are generally light brown or gray with black stripes on the thighs and a dark triangle between the eyes. Blanchard's cricket frogs are also wartier and thicker than other cricket frogs. They are named after a herpetologist from the University of Michigan. These cricket frogs are generally found in the muddy or marshy areas surrounding a permanent pond, which is similar to the area where I found this one, and emerge from hibernation in late March to early April.

Kelly Young

Oxford, OH