A call in the night

In early May Ontario's only true treefrog species, the Gray Treefrog (Hyla versicolor), makes it's way to vernal pools and breeding ponds to find mates and reproduce. A part of finding a mate involves males calling through the night to attract females. Because of this, it is arguably the best time of year to see the frogs in their natural habitat.

If you go out at night and are near the right pond you will be able to hear a chorus of gray tree frogs calling, such as this one.

This year Sterling and I were able to see many tree frogs during this season and capture a multitude of photographs which is why we have decided to make our first species post about these awesome amphibians.

For me, the first treefrog I saw this year was while I was on an ecology of amphibians and reptiles field course at Queens University Biological Station (QUBS). Right at the beginning of their breeding season we heard a single gray treefrog calling in the early evening and one of my fellow students was able to spot him up in an American Beech tree. His colour helped him blend in to the tree and he was difficult to find at first.

Gray Treefrog - Hyla versicolor - on an American Beech Tree

After this individual was heard calling and looking at the weather forecast we knew that within the next day or two that the breeding ponds would be full of these frogs. So that night a couple of the instructors and some of the keener students, myself included, went out to a local breeding pond to see if the treefrogs had made it there yet. The answer was yes. And not just a couple of them, there was an abundance of Gray Treefrogs. There were so many that just from a small radius around me I was able to find 8 individuals.

8 Gray Treefrogs sitting on my hand at a vernal pool

After the first night of scoping out the pond, the whole class was brought back the next night where I was able to take some more photographs.

Unfortunately I only had my phone camera, but I was able to get a couple of photos of one individual calling.

Gray Treefrog right before calling

Gray Treefrog in the midst of calling

And, I was able to capture photos of a couple different colour morphs.

Green Gray Treefrog

Brown Gray Treefrog showing the identifiable yellow underthigh

Green Gray Treefrog with bold patterning

Since this was the end of the course I decided that I would try and find a vernal pool used by Gray Treefrogs back in Hamilton once I got home. Luckily, I was able to find one not far away and was able to share it with Sterling. Here we spent a few nights wading in the pond, observing and photographing these animals. And now Sterling will tell you more about that experience.

- Ryan Wolfe
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Soon after Ryan had made his trip to QUBS, he had let me in on a little secret of his as to where a great location to observe mating Treefrogs was. I have seen many in my lifetime but before that night I had never been up close and personal with so many at a given time. One of our goals at this site was to try and photograph as many different colour variations as we could find, and I will show you the outcome.

As you can see the variation is absolutely amazing. From green to gray to brown, and everything in between almost every frog is different than one another. It's interesting to think about what can cause such great variation. But beyond the science, it's simply incredible that we get to observe such a beautiful animal. These were also just a few of the hundred or so we saw that night, and am glad that it seems to be a healthy ecosystem that they reside in.