Embedded Files
This is a Southern Leopard Frog (Rana sphenocephala). When full grown they're pretty big– about the size of a fist. They regularly call from our pond during mating season, with a sound like a person chuckling. If you want to know what that sounds like, check the bottom of this page for a sound file.
Southern Leopard Frog eggs!
This is an Eastern Narrow-mouth Toad (Gastrophryne carolinensis). They're pretty small and burrow down into the ground, making them hard to find. This one looks shiny because I washed the dirt off of him for the photo. When my yard gets flooded by heavy rains they produce a mating call that makes me think my yard is being invaded by invisible sheep! There's a sound file at the bottom of this page; listen in and see what it sounds like to you...!
This little amphibian is an adult Rio Grande Chirping Frog (Syrrhophus cystignathoides). As you might guess, the species is from Mexico and extreme south Texas. About 20 years ago some of these frogs stowed away in some potted plants bound for Houston, where they have established themselves and are now spreading out towards the rest of the state. Though they are rarely seen, we hear them chirping a little like crickets or baby birds in the bushes under our windows almost every night in the summer. Interesting fact: these amphibians hatch as tiny frogs- there is no tadpole stage!
This is a Gulf Coast Toad (Bufo valliceps). We find them pretty frequently in the plant beds around our house. We frequently hear the males at the pond, calling for mates. To hear what that sounds like, listen to the file at the bottom of this page.
This is the winter burrow of a toad I uncovered when I removed a flagstone that was lying vertically against the slope of our hill. The surface is just at the top of the picture. The tunnel entrance was at the top right corner, but the toad had filled it in for protection from the cold. As you can see, the tunnel went down for a foot or two, then curved left for a foot or two before ending in a small chamber. The toad there hardly stirred, and I placed the flagstones back and left him there to dig his way back out when the weather got warm again.
Gulf Coast Toad eggs. The female toads swim around in the water while laying their eggs in long strings that get tangled around the pond vegetation.
Every now and then some of our tadpoles do survive to adulthood. This is a very young Gulf Coast Toad, about the size of a fingertip. It probably left the pond a month or so earlier; it just happened to jump back into the pond when I was taking his photo.
Here is a Green Tree Frog (Hyla cinerea). They like to stay in the trees, and are suffering from competition for food with the Mediterranean Geckos. Sometimes we'll see them on our windows at night, eating insects attracted to the light. And we hear them every now and then, calling for a mate by our pond. You can find out what that sounds like by listening to the sound file at the bottom of this page!
These are the eggs from a Green Tree Frog. Notice that they are in a clump, as opposed to the long strings of eggs from the Gulf Coast Toad (visible in the separate photo in the right column).
The frog and toad eggs hatch in just a few days. We've seen the tadpoles get up to about 1 cm long (in a couple weeks time), and we've usually got hundreds of them swimming around, but only rarely do they seem to live long enough to become frogs. We wonder if the fish might be eating them before they can mature.
Looks like this one might make it: a quarter-sized froglet who's soon going to be a full-sized Leopard Frog (like in the photo at the top of this page).
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