 Firewood Find - Camouflaged Beauty
Gray treefrog. Photo by Jeff Pengel.
This cute gal hopped off a log from a pile of firewood at Bradbury Mountain State Park. If not for her leap, we would never have spotted her, as her coloration perfectly matched the wood she was on. Gray treefrogs (Hyla versicolor) are found in the eastern US and southeastern Canada. And as the scientific name suggests, they have the ability to vary their color to match their environment. While their 'normal' color is gray, they can vary from green to brown and from nearly white to gray to nearly black as needed. I once almost kicked a black one that matched the color of the asphalt walking path as I thought it was a rock! Unlike a chameleon, they change their color very slowly.
We determined this was a female due to her large size (a solid 2 inches) and her light-colored throat. Males are smaller and have a darker throat.
Notice the large sticky pads at the end of her toes. These pads allow her to easily stick to a tree. In fact, this one did a one-leg pull-up when she leapt off her piece of firewood!
Only male gray tree frogs call during the spring mating season. However, due to the warm and humid (wet) summer, we have heard calls occasionally throughout the summer at Bradbury Mountain, particularly on overcast days. A web search should yield the audio of the somewhat spooky call.
After her photo op, we put her on a log in the woods, and within a couple of minutes, she vanished into the trees.
~ Guest author Jeff Pengel, Bradbury Mt. State Park Ranger and Maine Master Naturalist
Editor's Note - Listen to gray treefrog vocalizations recorded by the US Fish and Wildlife Service and on the Wildlife of Connecticut website.
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