Monday, April 22, 2019

Urban Green Frog (Lithobates clamitans)

 This fella appeared to me in front of my apartment a few nights ago! My wife saw it and jumped then asked me to come look at it. I of course took a photo and let it on its way. It was huddled under some wood directly under one of our brightest lights that by coincidence attracts the most bugs. Could it have possibly known this and posted there for a future meal? Now as to wear this beautiful frog came from...I live right behind a drainage ditch that has a small running creek that runs off of a network of suburban ponds that are scattered throughout the neighborhood. This creak and the foliage around it provide perfect habitat for this creature.
Size: 3 1/4 inches
Sex: undetermined
Life Stage: Full sized adult
 Green frogs enjoy having a small creek or ditch with running water for a living habitat and will use temporary bodies of water for mating. The tall grasses around the ditch and other foliage are also a huge plus when these frogs pick a habitat to live in.
 I never saw the frog feeding or moving much under the light and it was about 9pm when we saw it and I know this species has been known to move around more during the evening hours. However, the frog was making no calls nor did it seem to have any motivation to move from its spot. I went inside and came back out a few times to see how long it would stay there and other than a slight positional change, the frog never moved. Around 1am I looked again and it was gone. Perhaps someone else has an idea on what the frog was doing there at that time?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

My first thought is that maybe the frog was stressed? Or maybe the frog had eaten right before you came and found him, so he had no motivation to go and find food.

Allison Welch said...

How can L. clamitans be distinguished from L. grylio, L. catesbeianus, and L. hecksheri?