The wood frogs have begun breeding here in KY, actually they were going strong last week. Got some cool footage of them in the vernal pools they breed in so I made a video about them. One of my favorite frogs.

Hope you enjoy it! Let me know what you think.

Thanks, Anthony

Excellent video Anthony, I really enjoyed that. Froglets...didn't know that was a word. Real close to my favorite word froglegs.

Another very interesting video Anthony.

I have a small, spring-fed pond on my property and it gets packed with wood frogs each year in late-winter/early-spring. They are tough to get pics of! I'll sneak down there and hide behind a tree while they are making a racket and rippling the surface of the water. As soon as I ease out behind the tree to try to get some pics they shut up and disappear.

We get spring peepers too but they come after the wood frogs. The two don't seem to intermingle much.

A few years ago we had gray tree frogs show up for the first time since I've been here (35 years). It took me quite some time to identify them by their call. Last summer I had one that liked to sing in the mulberry tree right outside my bedroom window. LOL

Turtledale - Thanks!

Lugnut - There was no stopping the wood frogs in the video, they would slow a bit when we moved closer but kept right on going. These are all in vernal pools and by mid summer you would never knew they were flooded earlier in the year. Tons of salamanders breed in them too but I didn't see any out and moving the day we stopped by them. In a few weeks the peepers will start up and the gray tree frogs and fowlers and American toads.

Another good one Anthony! Thanks for posting. Very interesting.

very good info. Thanks
if you hear wood frogs calling the Timber Dootles are right behind in migration

I wish the wood frogs in my pond were that tame, I'd love to get some good pictures of them in the water. I don't know what makes them so wary. I do know that a few minutes after I give up and walk away they are raising a racket again. Almost like they're laughing!

After the peepers the green frogs and bull frogs take over my pond for the rest of the year. They cohabit but green frogs make up 80% of the population.

I found your explanation of frogs in vernal pools enlightening. For many years I'd see tadpoles in water-filled ruts on old logging roads in the mountains of north-central PA while spring turkey hunting. I was always curious as to how they got there and figured they'd never survive after the ruts dried up. Maybe they didn't since the ruts weren't true vernal pools.

I have a small spring fed pond that holds water most of the year. I saw a lot of frogs in it this week, were those wood frogs?

Top notch video.

The freezing part is very interesting

Cool video, lots of good info. Thanks for taking the time to put it together.

Excellent, Anthony. In interior Alaska, I peripherally worked with wood frogs for a couple years, looking at malformation rate. Found a few malformed frogs, but really no higher rates than normal background.




Thanks for the video!

Jack

Froglets ! I love it. I like froggies and “hoppy toads “ of all kinds. There are year around springs all over here, and in spring I love to listen to the chorus of them all singing at night.

Another very enjoyable video, Anthony.

In the Deep South , I grew up hearing folks identify them as either “toady frogs “ or “hoppy toads “ . It’s a local thang

Eagerly awaiting your Spring Peeper video!

Lugnut - road ruts are actually used by quite a few frog and toad species. The state herpetologist here in KY actually does a road rut survey every spring. Toads seem to use them the most here. We also have a frog that is rare in the state called the northern crawfish frog that also breeds in short duration mud puddles. Even a vernal pool last too long for them to use for breeding.

learch - Maybe. We have a spring fed pond and I tend to see frog activity in it all year unless it has ice on it. If there are wood frogs in your pond they would likely be calling and there would be very visible egg masses.

Gulo - Cool pics!

Interesting information Anthony, thank you.

I heard the wood frogs for the first time just now on this dreary late winter evening. 46 degrees and light rain.