An Ontario Gray Treefrog lives in Our Garden & How we raised thousands of Tree Frog babies!
Mom, there is a strange bird in the garden!
The sun had set, and my daughter was pointing at our backyard window while we all listened to this loud and different sounding “bird call,” which resembled a laughing sound. “It’s a Mockingbird,” my youngest daughter guessed, while my son was certain that this sound could only come from a species like the Kookaburra! I was pretty sure neither of them was correct, but I was clueless myself, as to which animal was making this noise.
For a few days, we listened and guessed and I went outside with my camcorder to capture and record the calls.
The singing came from somewhere between our above ground pool and cedar hedge, but every time I crept closer to the source, it suddenly stopped.
This little hide and seek game ended after a small “stake-out”, when I finally discovered the source of the calls, a small gray tree frog, huddled into the crevices of the pool liner!
You can watch him on my video here, as he slowly makes his way from the water, up the wall, into his hiding space!
Gray Tree frogs are said to be living in forest areas, bogs and swamps, but as you can see this one was quite happy with his living quarters in our small town backyard.
As the days went on I was able to watch, tape and record our visitor, as he went about his evening serenades. Long story short, his daily concerts invited some of his amphibian friends and just the other night, I counted six gray tree frogs, sitting and singing on my pool liner!
They may not be as elusive as you’ve thought!
A few days of frog serenades led to hundreds of tiny eggs, found in clusters attached to the pool cover.
Pictured above are the Gray Treefrog eggs, scooped from my pool cover. These were freshly layed eggs, from the previous night.
Watch the video below, which shows thousands of little Tree frog tadpoles swimming on our pool cover.
The first eggs have now transformed into tiny Gray Tree Frog tadpoles, happily swimming in the rain water, collected on our pool cover.
The tadpoles grew on a diet of fall leaves that had accumulated on the cover. We also dropped the occasional fish pellet and (cooked) spinach and lettuce into the water. They do love their spinach!
Pictured above are treefrog tadpoles in various stages of their metamorphosis, Some of these tadpoles still have their tails but have started to form legs.
Time to move from the pool to our garden pond. These twelve treefrog babies now have “lost” their tails, grown legs and transformed into tiny little frogs, eager to explore our backyard!
Information found on the Ontario Gray Treefrog (Hyla versicolor)
Habitat
Can be found throughout Ontario along habitats that provide a body of water, woodlands, shrubbery, and even orchards.
Treefrogs like to hide in dark, moist places like tree crevices, logs and near swamps and bogs and apparently backyard pool liners!
Once, I also found a treefrog hidden between empty turned over flower pots in my garden.
Treefrogs are very hard to spot, as they can camouflage and blend in perfectly with surrounding vegetation or tree bark.
Treefrogs do overwinter in Ontario and spend the winter under leaf piles.
source: www.ontarionature.org