Wood Frogs ~ Rana sylvatica

Wood Frog ~ Rana sylvatica
The frogs have begun their spring chorus. While walking this weekend, we heard a deeper sounding group of frogs calling from the wetland.

Frogs can be hard to spot, but we had binoculars with us and were able to catch some glimpses of these particular wood frogs.

The males seem to be chasing around the females looking to mate with them. There would be a flurry of activity in the water where several males would chase after a female.

Wood frogs overwinter under leaf litter and logs. They migrate to the wetlands from woodlands in the spring to mate, where the female produces up to 3000 eggs, often depositing the egg mass with other female eggs. They return to woodlands for the summer months as the tadpoles develop and transform. Wood frogs will feed on flying insects, beetles and crickets. (Reptiles & Amphibians of Minnesota)

Here's a short recording of the wetland. Listen for the deeper sounding wood frogs.