Frog in my backyard pond!

[SlickSam]

This looks very familiar!! Any chance that you are also on the RedEarslider forum??

 

[Otterwoman]

No, I've never been to that forum.

 

[amkid247]

looking at those pictures id say all of those frogs were northern green frogs. the first one looks like either a female, or a young male (might be a satellite male to the second frog), the second is obviously a big buff male greenfrog, and the third picture is also a green frog, even though it is dark in coloration. northern green frogs can get very brown especially if they are cold and look quite like a bronze frog even though they're from the north

 

[Slimy2]

I think it's this guy right here http://wwknapp.home.mindspring.com/docs/bronze.green.frog.html
Looks pretty similar to me.

 

[Otterwoman]

He's back!

Look who's back! The frog has come to my pond (he can't be overwintering there, I dump it out every fall).
And a new weird froggy has taken up residence on my patio:

 

[ferret_corner]

hahahahaa WB froggy!!!

 

[Otterwoman]

What's WB?

 

[Azhael]

Welcome back?

 

[Kaysie]

SHE is definitely a looker!

 

[Jake]

This is the WB frog...
http://blogs.nypost.com/tv/photos/wb_frog.jpg
Though I think she meant welcome back.

 

[eyrops]

Green frogs aren't necessarily green. They come in green, brown, and occasionally blue. They also get nearly as large as bullfrogs, large enough to eat small mice and birds. They also have the ugliest call. It sounds like a bad out of tune banjo *GLUNK!*

Dawn, green frogs and bullfrogs lay eggs in late summer. Sometimes their tadpoles overwinter as larvae (and get BIG!). I can't suggest anything. Maybe transplant them to the closest water (where the other frogs would be going). But do NOT put them where there aren't any green frogs. The adults are voracious!

I will agree with Kaysie that you are hosting a green frog. I suspect the color is a function of water temperature and it will lighten up as the water warms up. I think I have seen this effect with green frogs. I have definitely seen it with wood frogs. Green frogs are found throughout NY:

http://www.dec.ny.gov/animals/44588.html

I think the two species that they would most likely be confused with are the bullfrog and the mink frog. Green frogs, as Kaysie pointed out, have a dorsolateral fold running from the tympanum back. This shows up quite clearly in your pictures. Bullfrogs don't have this. Mink frogs vary in this respect. Mink frogs are smaller when full grown which is no help with a young green frog. Mink frogs smell like rotton onions when handled. This is noticeable even to someone like me with a bad nose. Mink frogs don't look like they get to your neighborhood in NY by this map:

http://www.dec.ny.gov/animals/44586.html

I have seen green frogs show up at an artificial pond in southern Minnesota. I am a little surprised by this as I think of them typically as creatures of permanent water bodies. It looks like they have to make a pretty big blind leap to get into your pond. Unlike Kaysie, I enjoy their calls. They always remind me of summer in northern Minnesota.

-Steve Morse

 

[Otterwoman]

Thanks for your insights!

It makes me so happy to think I'm hosting wildlife in my humble kingdom! When I see the (a) frog has returned, I feel peaceful and lucky.

 

[Otterwoman]

2010 Frog: looks like a youngster.

 

[Dcerdeiras]

Defiantly a green frog before the winter and a bull frog after the winter.
Do you know how those frogs get up there? my aunt has a barrel pond and some how some cane toads keep getting in there. How the heck do ground frogs get up there?

 

[webzdebs]

Aw what a cute little frog! Good find

 

[JWERNER]

Defiantly a green frog before the winter and a bull frog after the winter.
Do you know how those frogs get up there? my aunt has a barrel pond and some how some cane toads keep getting in there. How the heck do ground frogs get up there?

Good question. I have to pull the things out of the window well things along the ground next to my house all the time.

Neat how this thread is still kind of going. I kind of got my wish since I first posted on this thread.

I now live in a house that has a huge pond. It might not be my own personal pond and it's shared by the community but it's still pretty cool. Lots of frogs, I say at least 4 types but thats about it for the Amphibians. The bass are way too big!

The frogs got some guts though ( more so than brains ). I have pulled a few out on fishing lures and they keep hopping after the lure once I free them.

If I get close enough with my crappy point and click I'll snap off some shots.

 

[Otterwoman]

I don't live that far from a park pond (less than a mile) and there are some marshy areas not far from my house...you can hear the frogs at night during croaking season. They hop over on moist nights and stay for the season. Or sometimes not. They follow their little froggy hearts!

 

[JWERNER]

Yeah, they keep the kids up at night all Spring and Summer.

This thing is like literally my yard though. I got about 10 yards, if that, of yard and then its this huge frog infested pond.

 

[amphibian boy]

Just so you know, those photos of little guy and big guy. I can tell that little guy is male and the big guy is female