Natural History of Lithobates catesbeianus

 

    My boyfriend's backyard has always been interesting. For some reason, it's a frog's paradise. During summer nights, we can find more than 20 frogs hanging around the banana leaf plants. They all collectively do their calls and can be quite loud. It's like a chorus. 

    While summertime is when we find the most abundant amount of frogs, we often find a few during the cooler seasons (fall-early spring). He has a pool that usually turns into an algae filled swamp when it's no longer in use, and I think the frogs are very fond of making it their temporary home. Since we know we can usually find some type of frog in the pool, we developed a habit of checking the filter every time we're in the backyard, and one day had the pleasure of finding the beauty pictured above.  

    The frog pictured above is called Lithobates catesbeianus, more commonly known as the american bullfrog. You can tell she's a bullfrog because her fourth toe extends far past the webbing, and she had a mottled pattern on her venter.  These frogs are the largest true frogs found in North America and are usually found near some source of water (hence my boyfriend's icky pool). They have become increasingly common in areas that have been occupied/modified by humans. This particular bullfrog was a female. You can tell because the tympanum (eardrum) is roughly the same size as her eyes (pictured below). A male's typanum would be larger than his eyes. If I had to estimate her size I'd say she was rougly 3-3.5 in. from snout to vent. 

 

   Due to her size, I'd say she's a mature adult bullfrog. Because we caught her, she was slightly stressed and did try to escape back down to the pool, but other than that her temperment was pretty mellow. When not living in someone's pool, you can find these frogs in warm, still, shallow waters such as lakes, ponds, rivers, or bogs.

    Catching her was an exciting experience for me. It took a few tries because I tried to avoid stressing her out as much as possible and she was covered in algae so she was very slippery. My first attempt at catching her was a failure because she managed to jump straight out the filter tray and back into the pool. I found her roughly around the time our class was learning about anurans so it was a cool coincidence for me that I was able to find and identify a species we had just learned about.