My wife Nancy likes to screw around with the tree frogs in our backyard.
I better explain.
We have a small army of tree frogs among the aging branches of the white maple trees in our yard, and the miniscule amphibians love to sing. Beginning in early spring and into the summer, they puff up their throats and carry on as a mighty chorus. One starts singing, and then they all join in. It sounds like a very high-pitched “Brrrrrrddt-Brrrrrrddt-Brrrrrrddt”.
Nancy is quite a soprano and can almost perfectly duplicate their shrill calls. Late in the afternoon, she will go out on the back patio and belt out a “Brrrrrrddt-Brrrrrrddt-Brrrrrrddt” and they all start singing. As loud as they are, they are actually tiny, well-camouflaged little critters and are almost impossible to ever see in real life.
There are hundreds of types of tree frogs, but not all of them live in trees. It all depends on their toes. Those with toe pads can scale trees, where they live, feed and sing.
At some point, they climb their way back down, procreate and lay eggs in water, which become tadpoles. Early this summer, we noticed dozens of small tadpoles in our lily pond and wondered where they came from. I think I know now. They are tree frog tadpoles. Ultimately, the little ‘poles will shed their tails, climb out of the pond, shimmy their way up into our trees and join our Mormon Tabernacle Tree Frog Choir.
The National Wildlife Federation says that tree frogs come in a variety of sizes, but most are small, an inch or two. They also come in a variety of colors, including neon green, but most are well camouflaged, making them difficult for predators such as birds, mammals, reptiles and fish to see.
Tree frogs are found on every continent except Antarctica. They are not crazy about cold weather, but they love the warm rainy nights of spring and summer.
Adult tree frogs are insectivores, in that they eat flies, ants, crickets, beetles, moths and other small invertebrates. However, as tadpoles, most are herbivores.
Worldwide, all frogs are having a tough go of it. They breathe through their skins are quite sensitive to changes in the environment as well as pollution and loss of good habitat.
I would say our backyard is a sanctuary city for tree frogs. They love it there and we love having them around.