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Western Chorus Frog (Pseudacris triseriata)

Western Chorus Frog; female approaching male | Stillwater, MN | View Enlarged Image

The "Plastic Comb" Frog

You can hear it on a cool, sunny day in early spring; that rich, lone series of clicks, like a thumbnail strumming the teeth of a plastic comb. It seems to stretch from some enigmatic spot in the dried swamp grasses still damp with the last snows. As the days grow longer and the nights grow warmer, the calls grow faster and more numerous, until they seem to overwhelm the wetlands. This is the sound of the male Western Chorus Frog calling for a mate. They tend to peak right around mid May, when their chorus is joined by the American Toad and Gray Tree Frog. During this season, individuals or small groups may be calling at all hours of the day, groups call from mid-morning, peak in late evening, and start to trickle off in the early hours of the morning, when their breeding pools get a little too cool for breeding.

Western Chorus Frogs are one of the hardiest species of frogs in Minnesota. They seem to be adaptive to human encroachment, and reasonably tolerant of pesticides and runoff. They are small (only about an inch to an inch and a half when it comes right down to it), which can be a disadvantages, as they are on the menu of just about any predator found in a swamp; from the Snapping Turtle to the carnivorous Pitcher Plant. Unlike the strident gray or green phases common to the Gray Tree Frog, Chorus Frogs are a rather inconspicuous gray in color with a pale underbelly and dark, lateral stripes running along their backs and sides. They can be difficult to spot in the wild as they hunker down close to the water, and are best known for their aforementioned "plastic comb" call.

Promoting our Frogs:

Leopard Frogs and other amphibians are endangered by runoff, water pollution, pet predation and habitat destruction. You can promote them in your backyard by creating water gardens, landscaping with native rocks and creating "frog houses" by digging shallow ditches (no more than 5" in diameter and 2" deep) and placing flat rocks or plywood over them. There should be just enough room at one end to allow a frog to enter, and the lid should be heavy enough (weighed down with dirt or rocks) so that predators such as fox, raccoons and house pets cannot get in.

Multimedia:

Chorus Frog | 1.98 MB MPEG Video | Stillwater, MN

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