Frog Meteorologists

The elusive Eastern Gray Tree Frog is a bit of a natural barometer. (Courtesy Bev Wigney)

The "frog-days" of summer are back! When the meteorologist forecasts the “three H’s” (hazy, hot, and humid) one of my favorite sounds is the afternoon and early evening rain call of gray tree frogs.

That bird-like trill is a “frog-prognostication” that portends the promise of an incoming cold front and relief from sweltering conditions.

Like their tropical cousins, New Hampshire’s tree frogs favor sultry summer nights for singing. In early summer, frogs leave the forest to mate in wetlands at lower elevations. Males typically perch along low tree branches and in emergent shrubs and trill to attract females who subsequently lay eggs in the water, leaving their tadpoles behind to raise themselves.

As their common name suggests, gray tree frogs are “arboreal” - spending most of their lives in trees, not water. They can climb vertical surfaces using sticky adhesive disks on their toes.

Contrary to their common name, they’re not necessarily gray. These frogs change color!

Under warty bumps, their background color can be sand-white or beech-bark-gray or fern-green to allow these chubby little frogs to blend-in to their surroundings.

Their finest attribute is harder to describe in scientific terms. Gray tree frogs are simply “cute.” They’re endearing. Unlike other frogs, they can rotate their heads and look right at you. The curve of their jaw makes them appear to be smiling.

And why not? Their sultry summer songs and watery rites of procreation bring a touch of the tropics to our northern clime, if only for a few brief weeks each summer.