a frog in the garden -- worries

[kgross99]

I have a question: a small frog (the body and head are about four inches long), pale grey-brown in color with a whitish stripe down his back, has been sitting in the thin upper leaves of a low tree in our garden for two days. He's clinging to leaves and branches, barely moving, just shifting position now and then, now sitting upright and now hanging upside down. We've never seen anything like this before in the garden, and wonder if he (or she) should be left alone, whether he's sick or just looking for food, or such. I showered him with a fine rain of water from a hose and he lifted up his head and licked up the water so I know he's alive, he looked avid for the water. Any advice would be much appreciated. I don't want to try rescuing the frog if it doesn't need to be rescued but it seems so out of place. I should say that we're in upstate NY.

[flybyferns]

It's best to just leave it there !

[Mentat]

Hello and welcome to FF ! Leave it alone and do not shower it with tap water; it has chloramines which will make frog ill when absorbed through skin.

[kgross99]

ah, good to know -- thanks. I'll leave it be. Is it common for a frog to just stay in a tree for days?

[Mentat]

Tree frogs live in trees and rarely leave them .

[kgross99]

understood, thanks -- it is just that this "tree" is very young and barely grown, and this frog just appeared suddenly, and seems bigger than I understand tree frogs to be, and is hanging up there on some very thin branches. But then of course I know so little about frogs! It's a very appealing creature.

[UncleChester]

From your description it sounds more like it's one of the native toads (colour, light stripe down the back and especially the size). The native treefrog kinda frogs are much smaller, especially the ones that typically come in brown. An escapee wouldn't be impossible, but nor would a toad that's decided it likes to hang out in a tree. I had a Rana clamitans (a very aquatic frog) in the garden a few years back that could regularly be found a few feet up an evergreen.

It wouldn't have been trying to drink the water (they don't drink through their mouths), it was likely responding to nearby movement by trying to eat it, just in case it was something tasty.

A picture would help with the ID, but likely you're good to just leave it be and enjoy watching it when you can. For reference, here's a list of upstate NY frogs:

Frogs and Toads of New York