Species
Upland chorus frog
Pseudacris feriarum
A small, striped frog whose call, like a thumbnail run along a comb, rings from winter pools.
Photo Alex Stach (opens in a new tab) / iNaturalist, CC BY 4.0 (opens in a new tab)
At a glance
- Size
- About 2 to 3.5 cm long
- Habitat
- Woods, fields and wet meadows near temporary pools and ditches
- Diet
- Small insects and spiders
- In Georgia
- Common in the Piedmont and upper Coastal Plain
- Voice
- A rising "crreeek", like a thumbnail run along a comb
- Rabies vector
- No
Identification
- Key marks
- Small, grey to brown with three dark stripes, often broken, down the back; white upper lip
- Told apart from
- Spring peeper, which has an X on the back
- Where to look
- Calling from flooded fields and ditches in winter
Behaviour
Upland chorus frogs breed in winter in shallow, temporary water, often while the nights are near freezing.
Why they matter
They use pools too short-lived for fish, so their eggs are safe from fish predators, and their tadpoles feed many animals.
Reproduction and lifecycle
Eggs — Small clusters on plants in shallow pools
Hatching — In a week or two
Tadpoles — Change into frogs in about 2 months
Maturity — Within a year
Lifespan — A few years
Calling — In winter
Living around people
- Flooded fields and ditches in winter are its breeding places; leaving them helps.
Misconceptions
- Frogs are silent in winter. Chorus frogs call loudest in winter in Georgia.
Related species
Seasonal activity
When this species is breeding, and when there are nests on the ground. Mowing during the shaded months is how most nests are found.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Breeding | Jan: no | Feb: no | Mar: no | Apr: no | May: no | Jun: no | Jul: no | Aug: no | Sep: no | Oct: no | Nov: no | Dec: no |
| Active nests | Jan: no | Feb: no | Mar: no | Apr: no | May: no | Jun: no | Jul: no | Aug: no | Sep: no | Oct: no | Nov: no | Dec: no |
| Notes | Breeding | Breeding | Breeding | Young frogs | On land | On land | On land | On land | On land | On land | Calling on wet nights | Breeding begins |
Where it lives
Recorded in 11 states and provinces. Each one links to the other animals there, and to the rehabilitators licensed for them.
If you found one
Answer a few questions and you will get a specific answer for what you are looking at.
I found an animal