Quite surprised to see this little spud hanging out on one of the rainbarrels this morning.
The temperatures have dropped significantly after the brutal heat of the summer, and we went to late fall quickly, especially overnight, meaning the treefrogs we’d been seeing for months vanished abruptly, and even the anoles only venture out in midday. I found this one just a little after one AM alongside the overflow pipe for the rainbarrel nearest Deep 13, while it was a whopping 5° C out there (reminding me that the Brugmansia plants should have been transferred into the greenhouse by now.) You’ll notice a dearth of markings, but I’m fairly certain this is a juvenile from the size, especially since the species that are adult at this size have distinct traits and coloration. I run into this way too often: sure, the adults have such-and-such lines or spots or whatever, but not only is there often a lot of variation among amphibian patterns and colors, they don’t fully develop these until adulthood, and no one ever seems to catalog the juvenile variations. Their calls might be listed, which only helps if they’re calling in the first place, which ever-so-rarely happens when I’m close enough to see one. Usually, the calls stop as soon as I approach.
Given all that, however, the best match that I’m finding seems to be a squirrel treefrog (Dryophytes squirellus) – if you notice, the spelling of the common name of ‘squirrel’ doesn’t match the species squirellus, just to be confusing and because, I believe I’ve said before, taxonomists are a weird bunch (and yes, I’ve double-checked the spellings.) This species should be fairly common in the area, yet I’ve only found them twice before, if that – again, variations in markings. But while I was at it, I made sure to get a clear image of the back with what could be seen of the hindlegs.
No traits there that would seem to indicate other possibilities like the pinewoods treefrog, spring peeper, or any of the chorus frogs, so I’m staying with this one. I considered setting up a terrarium to keep it within for a day or two, especially to get more detailed pics of the sides, undersides, and legs, but had largely decided against it when I found that my model here had already moved on. On the neighboring rainbarrel, however, was a juvie green treefrog of near-identical size, so either a couple of species were braving these temperatures, or my model is a master of quick-change disguises.
Anyway, a little later on I’ll get back to the stuff I’ve had waiting, before I find even more stuff to feature and/or cut in line.