When a bullfrog comes to call

"Dick, could you take a look at this?"

Patti was standing in the utility room, just on our side of the doggie door. At her feet were some of the dog-pack, but none seemed particularly interested in anything there. But when I walked in to the room I was confronted by a sizable greenish-brown (or maybe it was brownish-green) blob on the floor. There, sitting quietly, seemingly staring at the wall, was a subadult bullfrog, Rana (Lithobates) catesbeiana.

Now, bullfrogs are not uncommon in this region. In fact, they are abundant. But a few facts were unusual:

1. Bullfrogs are highly aquatic and the closest pond was more than a quarter mile away.

2. In the 20 years we've lived here I've never heard a bullfrog singing there.

3. The closest I have heard vocalizing bullfrogs was about three quarters of a mile distant (on the far side of a busy four-lane highway).

4. Once in the yard, it elected to come up the back steps and bounce through a heavy doggie door.

Well, it couldn't live in the utility room, so I gathered it up and moved it to the nearest bullfrog pond, where hopefully (if it can avoid the gators, herons, and cottonmouths) it can live out its long life.

More photos under the jump...

Posed but ready to leap, a female bullfrog: A bullfrog surveys its lake domain:

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.