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As I am writing this, it is early March in Wisconsin. There are more freezing days than warm, and it snowed yesterday….sigh.
Spring is coming, however, and that should be a hopeful thought for all of us. One of the more interesting (and loud) aspects of early spring at the pond’s edge is the emergence of our slippery amphibian friends, frogs.
Signs of spring abound; some of the migratory birds are showing back up, and the sun is rising in the sky. Another sign of spring is the temporary (ephemeral) pools that form from snow/ice melt and the excess runoff of a winter locked in ice. These small catchment areas are a common but unique habitat for our earliest breeding frog, the wood frog. Water gardens / Koi ponds also open up early in the spring and are a wonderful breeding habitat for the wood frog. So, get your ponds up and running early to see some very early spring visitors. You are very likely to see this frog if you live adjacent to a wooded area or even near a large urban park.
The wood frog is about 2-3inches long and is brown and black (mostly). These critters freeze solid over the winter, protecting their internal organs with glycol, which is an antifreeze chemical. When revived for the spring, they head straight for the first pools they can find to do the frog mambo…. Ahem. I believe the literature calls it froggy-style…. Moving on. They are identified by a distinctive brown/black patch behind their eyes. These guys are good jumpers, too, making them elusive prey.
After only a couple of weeks at the pool, wood frogs move off into the woods/thickets to eat insects and do other, general, frog-type things….
Up next in spring are the chorus frogs and spring peepers. If ever you’ve been outside in the spring (near water) and thought – “gosh, those crickets are loud”- well, those aren’t crickets, they're chorus frogs. The peepers use the same habitat and emit a “peep” sound. It is truly amazing the volume of noise that can come from large groups of these two rather small amphibians (>1in – Spring peeper, >2in – Chorus frog).
Spring peepers have a fairly distinctive “X” on their back, which makes them easy to identify. If you can
Spot them… They blend in well with the grasses and sticks of their native range.
Chorus frogs will hang out near the pond the whole summer, where our tiny peepers will wander back to the woods or other thick cover for the remainder of the year.
The leopard frog and the green frog are the larger herpetological denizens of our ponds and streams in the summer months.
Green frogs are very common and can be seen in your pond all summer. They emit a low croaking sound and are green (like their name suggests)…and sometimes brownish green, or gray-ish green – you get the idea. They are 2-5in long and have a big round “ear” (or tympanic membrane). The green frog can startle the bejeezus out of you while walking down your shoreline. They love to shout out a loud “CHIRP” then quickly scoot across the top of the water for several feet, seeking to escape your obviously negative attentions.
Tolerant to most ecological conditions, this frog can inhabit degraded waters and squalid pools with nary a care in the world. Very common summer visitor to nearly all freshwater pools in North America.
Another common, but fantastic amphibian is the Grey Tree Frog.
Mostly observed in the late spring of the year, these sticky-toed climbers are often seen on the sides of buildings or up in trees (as their name suggests). Though fairly numerous, everything eats our two species of Grey Tree frogs. They rely on excellent camouflage to stay safe. They can change color with temperature changes or to match their habitat (they can be grey or green, or white, or yellow, or light green, or nearly black). Even in their tadpole stage, they are a significant prey item for fish and aquatic insects. Very cool little frogs (about 1.5 inches long as adults), these are one of my personal favorites….
The leopard frog is also fairly common and, as the name suggests, is covered in black spots. There are many species of leopard frogs all over the US, Canada, and Mexico. The ones around here are a welcome sign of good water quality.
More streamlined than the green frog, the leopard frog is more of an athlete, too, jumping long distances to escape predators.
As I mentioned above. Leopard frogs are a sign of good water quality; if you see these amphibian elitists at your water body, be assured you have decently unpolluted water.
Then there is the Bull Frog!
This beefy powerhouse is our largest frog by far. In Wisconsin, they can grow over 7 inches in length (larger down south) and live 7-9 years. They can inhabit most waterbodies and are not a significant indicator of water quality.
Bull frogs will eat anything that will fit in their cavernous mouths: insects, crawfish, snakes, other frogs, rodents, small children, and pan pizza served by the slice… to name a few.
These are the baritones of the frog world: a deep, loud voice echoes across the marsh – it’s quite apparent when one of these big fellas gets to singing.
Lastly, there’s the American toad:
Needing little introduction, the American Toad is a pretty chill character. Very common over most of the US east of the Rocky Mountains, you’ll find them trunnelling about smartly in your lawn or underbrush, hunting bugs at night or in the deep shade. Frogs in general are great mosquito eaters, but toads are even better due to the fact that they live in close proximity to most of us, as they are independent of water for most of the year. Don't live near water? I’ll bet you still have a toad or 3 roaming around your property… Mosquitos hide out in/under vegetation awaiting a big warm human to stroll by, these toads patrol those very leaves and ground cover, gobbling them up by the hundreds.
Toads get together at the pond in the spring (May and early June) to breed… and they can come in very large numbers when they do. When several thousand toads start looking for mates, you will want to close your windows for a few nights; they are very loud. Toads reach sexual maturity in 2-3years and can live a very long time, about 10 years in the wild if they are lucky. The record is 36 years for a toad raised in captivity! That’s impressive!
A diversity of creatures in your pond is always good for the overall balance of the ecosystem. These critters do not show up to live and breed unless a diverse habitat welcomes them in. Be sure to plant several species of native aquatic plants in your pond to attract a wide variety of amphibians to your waterbody.
Diversity breeds balance as well. If your backyard pond (or water garden) hosts a variety of species (both animal and vegetable), the pond will be healthier and less prone to runaway algae blooms and poor water quality. The ecological balance created in these instances is beautiful and long-lasting. Diverse systems resist change and are much easier to maintain in perpetuity.
This list, though not comprehensive, is a good primer for the frogs of the greater Midwest. Other cool creatures come or reside in backyard ponds all year long. I recommend being observant and noticing when new species arrive.
If you need help achieving the ecological balance mentioned above, please follow the links below. Our best tool for good water quality is a proper aeration system. Cycling nutrients up the food chain is the single most efficient investment any pond owner can make.
