Tiny toads and other frogs

Tiny Toad on the path to Picnic Point. Photo Glenda Denniston

Thousands of tiny newly-metamorphosed American Toads are currently populating the trails in the Preserve. They are everywhere, easy to notice and easy to step on. Children love them. What other frogs are there to see? Of course the Leopard frog with its beautiful marks  and the fully grown warty Toads. 

Summer Intern Charles Sickles, who studies Biology at UW Platteville and specializes in frogs, reports 
"The frogs I have seen within Lakeshore Preserve are as follows: American toad, Leopard frog, Eastern grey treefrog/Copes grey treefrog (the two look identical and can only be told apart by their call) and I have heard, but not seen, the spring peeper.

Although I've not seen them, I would be surprised if the pickerel frog and the wood frog were not present in the Preserve as well. The pickerel looks very similar to the leopard frog but can be distinguished by their spots appearing symmetrically along the back, as opposed to the leopard frog having random spots.

An excellent site to learn Wisconsin frogs and their calls is this DNR link. It has both calls and some pictures, although they only have one picture for each, and frogs can have a lot of variance in color and patterning between individuals."  – Charles, thanks for sharing.
http://dnr.wi.gov/org/caer/ce/eek/critter/amphibian/frogident.htm
Also check out the Frog page on this website – and keep looking and listening for frogs in the Preserve.  

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Charles Sickles. Photo Kutzbach