Frog ID

[UncleChester]

A green frog has dorsolateral ridges (a little ridge of skin) that run from the eye down the sides of the back (which look to be there in your picture, but it's a little hard to tell), a bullfrog doesn't have these. When you know to look for them they're pretty obvious in the field. So yours looks like a green frog to me and not a bullfrog.

I'm not very familiar with frogs down south though, but given the apparent ridges it doesn't seem to resemble any of the other options on the list at Frogs and Toads of South Carolina and Georgia | SREL Herpetology You might want to go through their descriptions and make notes on how to tell the various ranids apart, then go back out and do some examining in the field. Being familiar with key characteristics will also help you take photos for later ID where these differences are prominent. For example, a bullfrog and a pig frog can be distinguished by the webbing on their hind feet, so if you suspect you've found one be sure to clearly photograph their hind feet to examine later.

It obviously sounds like a green frog as that's what your sound byte was a recording of. Recording what you hear can also be useful. It doesn't need to be super high quality to help, a cheap mp3 with a voice recorder can do the trick for later playback.

[evangelist6589]

A green frog has dorsolateral ridges (a little ridge of skin) that run from the eye down the sides of the back (which look to be there in your picture, but it's a little hard to tell), a bullfrog doesn't have these. When you know to look for them they're pretty obvious in the field. So yours looks like a green frog to me and not a bullfrog.

I'm not very familiar with frogs down south though, but given the apparent ridges it doesn't seem to resemble any of the other options on the list at Frogs and Toads of South Carolina and Georgia | SREL Herpetology You might want to go through their descriptions and make notes on how to tell the various ranids apart, then go back out and do some examining in the field. Being familiar with key characteristics will also help you take photos for later ID where these differences are prominent. For example, a bullfrog and a pig frog can be distinguished by the webbing on their hind feet, so if you suspect you've found one be sure to clearly photograph their hind feet to examine later.

It obviously sounds like a green frog as that's what your sound byte was a recording of. Recording what you hear can also be useful. It doesn't need to be super high quality to help, a cheap mp3 with a voice recorder can do the trick for later playback.

I do have a iPhone, a iPod Nano 5th Generation, a Olympus Voice Recorder, and cassette recorders, so capturing audio should not be difficult. I have only a point & shoot Olympus Camera so photographing details of frogs would be difficult. But if I were to do such a thing I would buy myself a better Canon camera with a Super Macro feature which would be in the $300-$500 range I bet. However the challenge for me at this time is finding the frogs. I heard them everywhere but could not find any. The one frog I captured jumped out of the water and onto land, but he was the only one. Do you have any suggestions?

[UncleChester]

Your camera looks fine for ID kinds of photos, you don't need the ability to resolve tiny details. It helps to know the key features to get in the picture though.

As far as finding frogs, once you've located a pond they're calling from the rest is patience. The first defence of most North American Frogs is to try not to be seen. If they think a threat is approaching they will remain motionless and silent until the threat is close and they feel flight is their best chance at survival. When moving in on calling frogs, when they go silent you should stop moving and wait patiently. During the breeding season they generally resume calling if you are still long enough. Then move closer and remain still again when the calling stops. Repeat until you are close enough to see the frog or have a good idea as to where they are. Often they'll be calling from under cover so can be hard to spot. It helps if you aren't afraid to get wet and get your eyes down to frog level.

You can also wait at a distance from where you hear frogs calling from. With calling usually comes fairly hilarious breeding antics, such as fending off competing males, that causes much splashing. This can help narrow locations down from a distance.

As to the nighttime thing- daytime can work as well. Green frogs call way more at night, but just a few days ago on a hot humid day I managed to photograph some Green Frogs calling in the middle of the afternoon.