Thursday's Screamer

Copyright AJ Horton

So we were kayaking the other day and got caught in the dark.  We thought that might happen so we took glow sticks and flashing lights - but those lights are really for others to see us, they don't really provide light for us to see much.  We finally make it back to the put-in and notice a guy fishing nearby.  And then we hear it.  A scream! It sounded like a woman's scream.  It was near us.  We were the only women there and we weren't screaming.  Every half minute or so there was this loud and long scream and we were in the dark so we couldn't see much.  Then we noticed something jumping.  It was frogs!!  What the....?  We thought they left because we were making noise and putting away our supplies but the screaming continued.  What was it?  I remembered that I have this little app on my phone that gives me an assistive light so I turned it on and aimed toward the sound.  Well, LOOK-EEE what I saw!  This screaming frog did not leave with the others.  And did not move when I shoved a light in his face; did not move when I took out my camera and made some photos.  He just kept screaming.  The large balloon like structure under his chin goes away as he screams.

I looked online for some information on this frog.  From what I can gather, this is a male frog - apparently the males scream louder than the females and this was loud.  Another thing is that this is probably a Blanchard Cricket Frog because of its small size and that it (the others) jumps high and very far when startled.

I hope you're having a great Thursday.  Thanks for looking.  See you tomorrow.