Absolutely ribbiting! Frog calls are a great way to identify one frog species from another. Let’s
explore the ways three different frogs communicate with one another and make our very own
frog calls!
Materials you’ll need:
- One plastic comb
- One rubber band
- One balloon
Green Frog
Hold a rubber band taught between your thumb and pointer finger, then give it a big pluck. What’s that? A green frog call! Green frogs can be found in a variety of habitats and make their homes around weedy lakes, ponds or streams! Their habitat can overlap with several other species of amphibians so their banjo-like call alerts others to their territory.
Chorus Frog
Hold a plastic comb and drag a fingernail across its teeth. That high-pitched strum? That’s a chorus frog’s call! This tiny frog (1.5 inches long) can be heard for up to a mile with this high-pitched vocalization! Why would their call need to travel all that way? To find a mate! The loudest season for the chorus frog is March to April, mating season!
Leopard Frog
Partially inflate your balloon and then grab your finger across the surface or very slowly let the air out as you pinch the opening. That distinct rumble is the ribbit of a leopard frog. Some scientists describe the leopard frog call as a snore or even the sounds of a motor boat! You can hear this call all through-out the summer provided you’re in a wet meadow or near a creek, pond or stream!
Keep Learning
Check out the Nature Museum’s Calling Frog Survey. Since its founding in 2000, the Calling Frog Survey’s mission has been to train and engage community scientists to contribute to our understanding of the breeding distributions of local frog species, to monitor long-term trends in frog breeding populations, and to improve our understanding of frog response to habitat restoration and land management.
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