Creatures Heard But Rarely Seen:
Treefrogs
By Frances Boyd
treefrogs as “rain frogs.” Often, late into the night,
treefrogs gather “en masse” in the trees to vocalize
in a chorus of over 25 males. If you go outside
on one of these nights, you will be on sensory
overload, the sound being almost surreal. If the sky
is clear and the stars are shining, you might expect
to see ET’s landing craft.
The frogs may still be interested in breeding
from March through October, but they also hunt
at night, eating
anything they can
stuff into their
mouths, all insects
of course. Fitting
into the food chain
as both predator
and prey, the
female treefrog
lays hundreds of
eggs—perhaps as
insurance that at
least a few will hatch and survive from tadpole
to adult frog.
Green treefrogs seem to be thriving on Kiawah,
but it is worth noting that amphibians are suffering
serious declines across the globe. Their skin
is particularly sensitive to habitat destruction,
environmental change and pollution. NK
While not scientifically documented, at least one Kiawah resident claims
to have heard a barking treefrog (Hyla gratiosa), close cousin to a green
treefrog, calling from a nearby lagoon. Listen carefully next summer in
order to document the presence of the barking treefrog on Kiawah. Imagine
that your neighbor’s dog is annoying you, except that your neighbor does
not have a dog. An interesting aside is that the barking treefrog female
meets her mate in the water, while the green treefrog female climbs up to
wherever the best crooner happens to be. According to J. Whitford Gibbons,
PhD, Professor Emeritus of Ecology at the University of Georgia, barking
treefrogs and green treefrogs will occasionally mate due to the proximity of
the courtships.
WINTER/SPRING 2016 • VOLUME 35
Photo by Sue Corcoran
are, in fact, precious! There is a lot
more to these creatures, however,
than just a pretty face. For one thing,
there are