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I suspect that sex in the woods is nothing new to most folks. But recently the neighbors have been a little bit too noisy in their peals of passion. It happens every spring about the time the  bridal wreath spirea bushes are in bloom. It’s as if the hundreds of  clusters of small snow white flowers are the signal for the honeymoon.

Let me set the scene. I had been busying myself in the yard with some mindless task when I heard a nearby chittering.  Its nearby proximity snapped me to attention and I instantly knew this was no masked raccoon, which has its own distinct trill. Nor was it a bird. It was a tree frog; to be exact a male tree frog. Like the other frog tribes, and most birds, vocalizing is a male task, necessary if he is to successfully mate.

Tree frogs, like birds, often sing or call from an elevated perch. Off the ground the mating call can carry further and reach a potential mate.

In Minnesota there are  two species of tree frogs:  Gray and Cope’s tree frogs. Both are similar looking but each has a distinct call. The Cope’s trill seems more urgent and is faster.Both species also differ in the number of chromosomes they carry, but that is irrelevant since our feeble vision cannot pick up this difference. (For the record, the Cope’s has twice as many chromosomes as the Gray.)

The boys in the brush around here are Gray’s tree frogs. The males sit in their arboreal pulpits beseeching hallelujahs of horniness to any nearby female tree frog congregants. Indeed it could be said that their begging appeals are the stuff of the Bible’s Song of Solomon.

It was hard to pinpoint the frog’s location.  Not a bad strategy for a small, vulnerable animal that is knowingly making a racket that could target itself as food  for a predator.

Like a sneaky voyeur, I investigated  the mock orange bush and the nearby ferns and iris. Of course my intrusions to this most sacred of acts turned off the frog songs.

Then from the woods behind me, I heard another tree frog. Was this simply a neighboring male that was letting the first one know his frog music was more appealing or was the chortling call making a mockery of my poor stealth?

 I strolled out to our garden to cull some rhubarb to make a cobbler. A tree frog clung to a leaf, perfectly matching the rhubarb’s color. Leaning close, I could easily see the knobby tips of the tree frog’s toes. These sticky pads allow the frog to climb up vertical surfaces.

 Among the Minnesota frogs, tree frogs are the “chameleons of the frog world.” They can move from plant to plant and in relatively short order, blend amazingly well with each different shade and color of plant.

Specialized skin cells, called chromatophores, contain or produce pigments or reflect light thereby giving them amazing cryptic powers. Scientists have discovered that tree frogs can change colors faster with higher air temperatures.

It is the tree frog that we often see climbing confidently up the sheer window surface on a summer night. They are not window peeping, spying on our sexual practices or trying to figure out how to get in. They are positioning themselves in an ambush to hunt the insects that are attracted to the indoor lights.

It saddens me to think that this group of unabashed animals, so willing to sing songs of seduction, are currently the most threatened group of organisms in the world. No other class of animals, whether it’s birds, mammals or insects, are facing such a major risk of worldwide extinction.

The primary threat to frogs comes from the minute spores of one of the more than 1,000 different chytrid fungi species that live in water or moist conditions. The fungus is devastating frog populations in North and South America and is now found on all continents that have frog populations. In other words the only continent that lacks the chytrid fungus is the Antarctic.

The fungus is no newcomer, it has been around for a long time but us human types are responsible for the vicious spread. We have altered over half of the planet’s land surface and as humans have embraced a global economy, countries can easily and quickly ship products that are contaminated by microscopic fungal spores.

Consequently, the long-lived fungal spores are easily transported thousands of miles. And in areas where the fungus is a newly introduced, frogs cannot evolve fast enough to resist the deadly ramifications. There seems to be no escaping the reach of the fungus.

Frog populations are also threatened by other human actions. These include the toxic soup of poisons that include pesticides, herbicides and other chemicals that we apply to lawns, agricultural lands, golf courses and other areas.

Could it be that the frogs that brazenly climb on my windows are wanting me to see them? If I want to enjoy  future tree frog acrobatic and sexual antics around the yard and in the woods, I better pay attention to my own actions. And speak loudly on behalf of those neighbors who aren’t able to call for help.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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