Boreal Chorus Frog (Pseudacris maculata)

The Boreal Chorus Frog is one of Grand Teton National Park’s most common but also sneakiest residents — they’re small, shy, and exceptionally well-camouflaged. If you manage to glimpse one of these tiny amphibians, count yourself lucky! The only thing that isn’t especially stealthy about them is their loud, locust-like calls. In fact, their scientific genus name is Pseudacris, which means “false locust” in Greek.

These little frogs come out of hiding in the spring earlier than almost any other amphibians. This can be very dangerous for them, as there’s occasionally still snow and ice when they come out. As you can imagine, a little brown frog makes quite a silhouette on powder-white snow, making them an easy early-spring target for hungry predators. In addition, since they come out before many waterways have thawed, their main diet of mosquitos and small insects haven’t even hatched yet! As climate change causes temperature and weather instability in these ecosystems, it’s small players like the boreal chorus frog that suffer greatly as a result.

Written by Shawna Wolf
PC: Timothy Uttenhove