I’m on the watch for the Wood Frogs (Lithobates sylvaticus) to arrive at my little manmade pond. During the cold of winter Wood Frogs hibernate in the soil under leaf litter where their bodies go through freeze and thaw cycles depending on weather conditions.
In mid February they awaken from their hibernation and search for vernal pools for breeding, often returning to the same pool year to year. They sometimes begin their breeding even before ice is totally gone from the pond.
While actively hunting for mates they’re quite the noise makers, sounding a “clack, clack, clack” particularly during and after rain.
Their egg masses are impressive to see, and can contain one thousand to three thousand eggs. The eggs hatch in nine and thirty days, depending on the temperature of the water.
The tadpoles undergo metamorphosis at about two months and crawl out of the vernal pool as tiny frogs. At this point, I’ve got to watch that I don’t step on any of the cute little things.
A fully grown Wood Frog varies in size from one and a half to three inches, and they generally live no longer than three years.
I’m looking forward to hearing that, “clack, clack, clack” sound!
4 responses to “Wood Frogs”
Beautiful photos. I love frogs….such interesting creatures. But, I just watched a documentary that was so sad…..spoke about how frogs are dying all around the world from some kind of fungus (????) that gets on their skin and keeps the skin from being able to breathe. It’s gotten so bad that in some tropical areas, man has removed some species from their natural habitat, and placed them in a man made housing, where they are cared for, using super cautious practices to try to keep the species alive while they work on how to deal with this latest threat of extinction. I thought I was going to watch a lovely film showing all the gorgeous exotic frogs of the world…and there are many….but ended up with this dire prediction of many frogs going extinct. Already there are places where one no longer hears the frogs….just gone. Arrgghh….scary.
HUMANS!! Ugh!! We are totally ruining our planet for life to go on as we know it. I know about this issue. Don’t get me started. Makes me think of our precious bats and WNS.
We’ve gotta do what we can and hope that others around us will realize and act as well.
Thank you for caring and thanks for reading my posts.
Bren
again you have made Tendrils the site to cite when sighting charismatic flora and fauna of our magnificent Piedmont and Blue Ridge area.
Hi Ken! “Magnificent Piedmont and Blue Ridge area” INDEED! I love it here. My life is complicated by very poor cell phone reception, a landline that is (mostly) buried along the road where VDOT continually cutting, and internet reception and is so bad it often doesn’t exists BUT there are so many wondrous rewards to living in the middle of nowhere! I love it!
As always, that you for your very kind words and for reading my posts.
Bren