Wildlife Watching Wednesday: The Vocal Green Frog
By: Tom Berg
Frogs are very common around most lakes, ponds, streams and marshy wetlands. But not all frogs are of the same species. There are bullfrogs, green frogs, wood frogs, leopard frogs and several others. One of the most common frogs in the eastern United States is the green frog.
The name “green” frog is a bit confusing for many people, because most frogs are green – or at least partially green. The two most common frogs, green frogs and bullfrogs, are both green in color, so they can be hard to tell apart. That is, until you know what to look for – or what to listen for!
The main physical difference between green frogs and bullfrogs of the same size is the presence or absence of a pronounced ridge on their back. This ridge is called the dorso-lateral ridge, and in green frogs the ridge extends from the back of the frog’s eye most of the way down its back. The ridge on a bullfrog runs from the back of its eye and just curls around its round eardrum. It does not extend down the back.
Another way to identify the green frog is by its call, so you don’t even have to see it. Green frogs are very vocal and they make a short (but loud) call that sounds like the “twang’ of a rubber band. Their call has also been described as sounding like a plucked banjo string. Twang! Bullfrogs, on the other hand, make a very loud and slow croaking call that sounds more like a foghorn.
The calls of green frogs and bullfrogs are totally different, so if you hear the short twang of a rubber band on a late-summer evening while walking past a pond, you’ll know that you just heard the call of a green frog.
Like all frogs, green frogs lay eggs in the water during the springtime and those eggs hatch into small tadpoles. The tadpoles grow and eventually go through a process of metamorphosis where they grow legs and their tail gradually shrinks and finally disappears!
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