On the Sunday after an April snow, our neighborhood filled with the thick white smoke of burning wet leaves and brush. I've often wondered what would happen if everyone in the area agreed on one particular day to burn thus leaving the rest of our spring weekends smoke free to enjoy. It seemed that by pure serendipity, April 18th was the day to test it out and so Wayne and I joined in burning twigs in our fire pit. For the record, it's for the best that the neighborhood spreads out our burning chores as our house still smells of camp the next morning.
And so it was, that while I was supervising Wayne's progress from our glider, that Wayne announced that he spotted an orange treefrog. Typically I would have leapt into action to investigate, but knowing that frogs are quite fast and I was quite comfortable, I decided to leave well enough alone. After some time, Wayne let me know that the frog was still hanging around and so he retrieved the phone so that I could take a picture. I give credit where credit is due and so alert my readers to the fact that had Wayne not insisted, this blog wouldn't have been. Frogs after all seem to be quite common in these parts and I had thought until just now, held very little mystery to unfold.
Now for those of you who at once recognized this charming amphibian, I implore you to keep reading as I honestly believe that I have something of interest to share here. As I began poking around the internet in hopes of identifying this frog, I discovered numerous sites dedicated to the subject and not all of them agreeing on the number of frog species that call VT home. In the end, I chose The Frog Lady who discuses ten frogs and two toads here in Vermont. Truth be told, how could we not trust someone who self identifies as The Frog Lady?
I find writeups that include range maps particularly helpful in eliminating or including potential candidates. In this case however, there were only two frogs that were similar to Wayne's orange frog and those are the spring peeper and the wood frog. Vermont's tree frog is the grey treefrog and so that assuredly was not it. Being much to large to be a peeper and by the fact that our frog was clearly on dry land in the spring, I surmised that what we had here was the ordinary wood frog. Described to be a, "tan, brown or rust colored frog."* I began to pay attention to that nagging feeling that there was more to know here. "The grey treefrog may range in color from green to brown to grey."*
This frog that I photographed in the Roaring Brook Wildlife Management area if a green frog is said to be "typically greenish - brown." If it's an American bullfrog its "green or gray-brown".* What's going on here? Why can't anybody nail down an exact color for any particular species of frog?
As it turns out, there may be a good reason. We have all grown up learning that birds have breeding plumage, Snowshoe hares turn white in the winter, fawns are speckled for their first few months, and chameleons and cuttlefish? Well chameleons and cuttlefish are just plain amazing! The more we think about it, the more creatures we know of that in one way or another alter their colors. Furbearing animals shed old and grow new coats, Birds completely molt or partially molt and display alternate plumage.**
But did you know that frogs can also change color? Frogs alter their color using three layers of specialized skin cells that include, melanin / pigments (which also tints human skin), light reflectors and light filters. "Hormones in the frog can change the cells shape, move around the pigment inside the cells and alter the intensity of light coming form them"*** What this means, is that frogs adjust their color depending on where they are hanging out. So while our orange wood frog looks out of place in green grass, remember that he was ever so rudely awaken by Wayne when he found himself shaken from a pile of rusty colored leaves. Comparatively speaking, I think that you must agree that we humans are rather boring creatures when it comes to these sorts of things.
On another note, why was that frog snoozing in a pile of leaves on what should have been a fine day in terms of amphibians for mating? Why did he hang out long enough for a photoshoot? All of the frogs that I know, quickly slip under the water or leap away before I can get my hands on them. Arguably, I was much better at catching frogs as a youth; but still, I could have grabbed my orange friend with one hand tied behind my back. Come to think of it, that green frog on the sun warmed moss, required several taps with a stick before he gave up his spot.
Would you believe me if I told you that our wood frog may have been still thawing out from the winter? Most I think, are aware that reptiles and amphibians are cold blooded. This means that they rely on external sources to regulate their body temperature. After taking a dip in the cool Roaring Brook, the green frog was most likely warming up in the sun much like a snake does on a rock or a turtle on a log. Our orange friend however had been covered by a pile of overwintered leaves that we had purposefully left in place during the fall for wildlife.
The cool thing about a wood frog is that unlike other frogs, they partially freeze during the winter months. They produce a sort of antifreeze using glucose produced by their livers, This syrup keeps the inside of their cells from freezing and also prevents dehydration by combining with water molecules within their cells. Everything on the outside of their glucose filled cells freezes. This enables them to overwinter not in the mud bottoms of ponds like other frogs do; but rather up above on the ground in leaves.****
"There is no muscle movement, no heartbeat, no breathing...But it is alive in a state of suspended animation."**** Then somehow when the days warm up, the frog miraculously thaws out, it's organs resume their function and the wood frog goes on its way in search of a body of water in which to mate. There is a paragraph in Biological Miracle , Wood Frogs and Humans that explains why medical researchers are so interested in uncovering exactly how this process takes place without damaging the frog.
Resources:
*The Frog Lady, Frogs Found in Vermont
**All About Birds, The Basics: Feather Molt
***Live Science, Why Frogs are Green
****Gates of the Arctic, Biological Miracle
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