frog porn: the calls (and caresses) of the wild

LOVE IS IN THE AIR, BABY. FROG LOVE. My backyard is alive with the sounds, and sights, of the start of mating season, with a pair of wood frogs (above) leading the way. I’m trying to train my ear to tease apart who’s who in the cacophonous ensemble out back, and I got some help (thank you, internet!) from Dylan Cebulske of Illinois, a.k.a. “Herping With Dylan,” including this amazing video of his:

Now before you go thinking dirty thoughts about my wood frog friends up in the top photo, who by the way quack like ducks to my ear, know this:

They are simply engaged in amplexus (doesn’t that sound tame and scientific?), in which the male (in this species the smaller frog) clasps the larger female around the back. This goes on for some time, and they don’t seem to be one bit shy. The embrace began right out at poolside, where 15 other frogs were sunning themselves, including the few in the background of the photo below. Eventually the happy couple retreated into the shrubbery onto a bed of pine needles, and finally into the water, where the eggs must be laid.

Everyone’s feeling frisky. The two bullfrogs who overwintered in one of my pools one recent year split one early spring Saturday night under cover of a giant rainstorm, as they do every year about that time, seeking a bigger body of water for breeding. My prediction: They’ll be back, on a wet fall night.

other frog adventures

• Close encounter with a wood frog
• The Herping With Dylan YouTube channel
• When the bullfrogs are on the move
• What happens when male green frogs get jealous