Rainy day, clear night, singing frogs

Rainy, clear, muggy, rainy, clear, rain, clear -- it was yoyo weather all day yesterday. Jake and I headed north a few miles and the high humidity and intermittent rain induced mile after mile of amphibian choruses.

Green treefrogs, Hyla cinerea, squirrel treefrogs, Hyla squirella, pine woods treefrogs, Hyla femoralis, oak toads, Bufo quercicus, and little grass frogs, Pseudacris ocularis honked, churred, ratcheted, peeped, and twittered.

Even a couple of rat snakes had attempted to cross, but were fatally intercepted by vehicles.

So we planned on making an amphibian evening of the jaunt. But then the breezes shifted, the high humidity and low pressure almost instantly replaced by cooler winds, high pressure, cleared skies, low humidity and a temperature drop.

An hour after hearing the immense choruses the marshes were almost silent. Ours proved to be a dry run.

More photos under the jump...

The oak toad, smallest toad of the U.S., may be easily identified by his strident peeping calls: Unless calling, little grass frogs are so tiny that they are difficult to find:

Author, photographer, and columnist Richard Bartlett is one of the most prolific writers on herpetological subjects in the 20th century. With hundreds of books and articles to their credit, Richard and his wife Pat have spent over four decades documenting reptiles both in the field and in captivity. For a list of their current titles, please visit their page in our bookstore.