Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Frog Calls

While I was at the National Botanical Garden I heard a frog call. I almost felt my ears turn to locate the source of the call but was reminded that it was probably a recording, besides I didn't recognize the call. So I thought today I would give some verbal descriptions for common frog calls that can be heard in the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia.  I copied these from class notes and have no idea who originated these good descriptions but I am very grateful for the person who first wrote them down and passed them along to other frog lovers. I wish I had photos of all the frogs but so far I am missing a few. Perhaps this year I will be able to take a photo of a few more.  The beginning of March we should start hearing Spring Peepers and Wood Frogs.  Keep a look out for them on warm rainy nights.

American Toad – long musical trill “waaaaaaaaaaa…………” lasting up to 30 seconds (range 6-30).


Fowler’s Toad – short unmusical nasal trill “waaaaaaaaaaaa” lasting 1-4 seconds – shorter and harsher than American Toad. Reminds me of someone who ate something foul and is complaining.



Northern Cricket Frog – hesitated clicking “gick, gick, gick” starting slowly then increasing speed for 20-30 clicks. This frog sounds like someone clacking 2 marbles together repeatedly.



Gray Treefrog - hollow musical, wooden trill or similar to call of red-bellied woodpeckers.



Northern Spring Peeper – loud piercing ascending whistle “peep” repeated at 1 second intervals. Our most common calling frog, a full chorus sounds lie sleigh bells and can literally make your ears “ring”.

Upland Chorus Frog – sounds like running your fingernail over the small teeth of a comb “teeeee”, lasts 1-2 seconds, speeding up and rising in pitch at the end. Often heard with peepers, but do not mistake the agonistic call of a peeper for this frog. These are rare in my area but I have heard them near Staufers Marsh in Berkeley County.



Bullfrog – a deep, resonabt, bassy and slog “jog-o’-rum”.


Green Frog – sounds like the twang of a loose banjo string, but explosive, either a single note or repeated 3-4 times, the notes progressively less loud.



Wood Frog – a fast series of short raspy clacking sounds. A full chorus sounds like a flock of quacking ducks.

Northern Leopard Frog – a low guttural snore lasting 1-3 seconds with 20 snores per second, followed by several clucking grunts.


Pickerel Frog – a steady low croak or rolling snore lasting 1-2 seconds.

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13 comments:

  1. Very interesting. We have a lot of bull frogs around our pond. They can get quite loud.

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  2. It's just amazing at how many species of frogs there are! I would love to hear the croaking of frogs around my house. I think the sound would be soothing, but then, I like crickets too. These are excellent photographs!

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  3. This is awesome. If I could remember them. Love the images. Don't see many frogs around here. Good luck with completing your frog photo collection. These images are great.

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  4. We lived in S. Florida for nine years...we had a family of Frogs in our front water pond....one we named Fat Pat...she was fat! Oh and loud! My favorite frogs where the wall frogs, they where translucent very cool!

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  5. Neat idea to collect photos of toads and frogs. I had no idea there's such a variety.

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  6. Kim and Debbie, I agree they can get very loud at times. My favorites are the gray tree frogs they have a soft call throughout the summer and I find it reassuring that all is well.

    Gaelyn and Carolyn thank you for the nice compliment on the photos. I'm sure you have your own favorite sounds of spring and summer like crickets and bird songs. It is really amazing when we stop to listen, don't you think.

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  7. I've been hearing frogs lately but I don't know what kind they are.
    Very interesting post.

    Happy OW!!!

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  8. What an interesting post! When I was a little girl my grandparents lived on a lake in Connecticut and I used to stay with them during the summers and at night the bull frogs (huge) would start their serenade. I loved it. We have some toads and tree frogs around my house and they too conduct their serenades at night. I love to sit out on the porch with a cup of tea listening to them and the cicadas. Very relaxing.

    ~ Tracy

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  9. Nothing louder than a frog in the pond during mating season especially when you are trying to sleep :) Loved the post and the descriptions of their calls.

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  10. I loved this post! I wish I could have heard these sounds. We have ponds in the neighborhood and at night we hear all those kind of sounds. Joan

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  11. Great post and photos on all the frog. I love listening to the frogs in the summer months.

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  12. I too, love frogs, and I would love to start getting some beautiful photos of them, such as the ones that are your post. One of my great regrets is that I didn't get any good photos of the beautiful frogs I saw in Costa Rica (Rain Forest frogs are so gorgeous!) - they were too fast for me - but the ones in my own back yard are pretty gorgeous, too! I'm so jealous that you are already visiting your botanical gardens and seeing frogs! We are still buried in wet, sloshy snow!

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  13. We have been hearing Upland Chorus Frogs every few days. Not long before the Spring Peepers call.

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