Repeat Resident

This precious little gray frog lives somewhere on the forest floor throughout the winter months and returns in the spring. He makes glycerol (glucose that acts as antifreeze) in his veins which circulates to avoid his freezing during the winters! His heart actually stops! He hibernates in leaves or soil on the forest floor as the days get cold and yet finds his way back here to our deck when the weather warms every spring.

His breeding season is April through August and the female can lay as many as 2000 eggs in standing water. He has a familiar song which is so nostalgic to me. This frog usually hides up in the collapsed green umbrella on our deck as the weather warms. I have opened the umbrella on a warm, late afternoon and am surprised as he falls into my hair or on my arm like a soft damp sponge.  Neither of us panic.  My grandchildren have been surprised as well by his fall. Last week I took this photo of him snoozing on the banister of the deck near the citrus trees.  I should give him a name.