The Pine Barrens Treefrog
By Richard Bartlett · May 18, 2016 12:22 am
This vocalizing Pine Barrens treefrog is in a Florida panhandle locale. Quonk, quonk, quonk. Some say these calls are reminiscent of the honks of geese. I’ve never been able to pick up on this similarity, but to each their own. Instead I hear the vocalizations of the beautiful Pine Barrens treefrog, Hyla andersonii, as being similar to, but a bit higher in pitch and more rapidly repeated than, the calls of the more common green treefrog. Known to occur in the bogs of the New Jersey Pine Barrens and the Carolinas, it was not until 1970, when researcher Steve Christman found a road killed specimen in Florida, that this beautiful green, orange, and plum, colored treefrog was known to occur in acidic/sphagnaceous/steephead habitats on Florida’s western panhandle as well as in adjacent Alabama. Although not common, now that more than 150 small populations have been found, it is recognized that this treefrog is not quite as rare as once thought.
Pine Barrens treefrogs may vocalize from terrestrial positions.
The beautiful Pine Barrens treefrog often perches on low twigs. Note that males have dark throats.
