Of course today's title is a play on words from Mark Twain's 1865 short story, "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County." Doing yard work this weekend, Mr. GDP had a saw in hand to cut this little branch when he noticed it was home to a gray tree frog. The gray tree frog is widespread throughout North Carolina; however, they aren't usually spotted, sleeping during the day. This one almost seemed to be semi-hibernating; however, he is gone today. As seen in this photo, gray tree frogs are good at camouflaging themselves. Changing color quickly and blending in are features for which they are famous. If you click through on the above-linked website, you can hear their call. As we typed this post, that exact noise filled our yard. We work very hard to keep our yard amphibian friendly, especially avoiding pesticides. See GDP's gray treefrog photo from last year, taken by chance (with nature's cooperation) on the same day of the year and posted a year and two days apart (here).
Read more under conservation if you want to know how pesticides can harm frogs (here). Finally, the following website is extremely informative if you want to know more about amphibians and reptiles of North Carolina (here).
That's so cool ! I've never seen anything like it. It's so well camouflaged, one wouldn't notice it really. Thanks and have a great day.
Posted by: Montreal Photo Daily | Tuesday, May 24, 2011 at 07:18 AM
wow amazing creature!
Posted by: magiceye | Tuesday, May 24, 2011 at 08:49 PM
I really didn't see it at first...
Posted by: VP | Wednesday, May 25, 2011 at 05:06 AM