daniel5's Identifications

A Northern Leopard Frog was observed here (audio recorded) last week (Mar 26), so I tried to find one this weekend. I did heard one call twice, but weather conditions were pretty bad, as was the high level of disturbance from people enjoying the weekend/park. I was unable to get a bearing on it and did not get a recording.

So I returned today; it was much better: 67F, partly sunny but still breezy (5-15 mph). I heard what I thought was a NLF call 4 different times while waiting over 1.5 hours, but it only called once each time and I got a relative bearing but was unable to determine a specific location. I tried playing a tape to elicit a call, but it did not work. Just before the park was about to close, I thought I heard one clearly but softly call, and it was also doing some chuck calls. I approached it slowly and then a second one responded! They were both pretty close but very muted, it was hard to hear. You had to be within 100 feet to hear it, and within about 25 feet to hear it clearly.

I was curious about their calls. It was noisy from the wind and people, but there are also a lot of bull frogs in the pond. I think they were intentionally calling softly. I have seen birds do this many times when they feel compelled to sing, but don't want to give their location away.

I approached very slowly to get close enough to record it, and got 2 usable files. I think I was within 15 feet of one, and 10 feet of the other. I looked with bins but could not see either frog, they were calling from a concealed location in the vegetation.

After getting some feedback, I am now unconvinced; this may have been a Pickerel Frog. It sounded more like a Leopard frog to me at the time (I have Pickerels in my back yard and hear them almost every eve), but I am going to leave this at the genus level.