Bird-voiced TreefrogHyla avivoca

The Bird-voiced Treefrog (Hyla avivoca) is a small treefrog of the southern United States.  This species has a rather unusual distribution in that it occurs on the east side of the Mississippi River from southern Illinois down to the gulf coast.  Along the Gulf Coast it occurs east to the Florida Panhandle and a small area of southern Georgia and barely across into a small area in South Carolina.
West of the Mississippi River, its range is more disjunct with isolated populations in a few areas of Louisiana and southern Arkansas and even the southeast corner of Oklahoma.

Its color pattern is very similar to the slightly larger Gray Treefrogs (Hyla versicolor and Hyla chrysoscelis) with which it shares its range.  Like the Gray Treefrogs, the Bird-voiced Treefrog can vary in color from gray to green to even gold in background color, normally broken up with a mottled pattern on the back and legs.  They typically have a white (or light) blotch below the eye although this characteristic is also shared with the Gray Treefrog species.

Hyla avivoca
Barnwell County, South Carolina

Hyla avivoca
Ouachita County, Arkansas

It can be separated from the two Gray Treefrog species by lacking the bright orange coloration of the posterior part of the thigh seen in those species.

Hyla avivoca
Barnwell County, South Carolina

As both the common name and scientific name imply, the call of the Bird-voiced Treefrog is a prolonged series of "bird-like" whistles.

Hyla avivoca
Ouachita County, Arkansas

Here is the call of a Bird-voiced Treefrog from Ouachita County, Arkansas in May 2015:



Although their typical call is a long series of whistles as heard above, when we heard them calling that night in Arkansas they occasionally made a shorter call that appeared to be some sort of territorial call between males?



© Chris Harrison 2015