Southern Leopard FrogLithobates sphenocephalus

The Southern Leopard Frog (Lithobates sphenocephalus) ranges over the southeastern United States.   In the region of Texas where I live, the Southern Leopard Frog and the Rio Grande Leopard Frog (Lithobates berlandieri) come together.  Although the two species are similar looking, they have different calls.

These Southern Leopard Frogs were calling from a flooded grassy pond on a cool fall day.  This is the southwestern edge of their range.

The call consists of two parts.  The first part is sort of a chuckling call:

Here is the spectrogram for that part of the call:

The second part of the call is more of a typical frog "croak":

And here's the spetrogram for that part of the call:

I have been trying to get video of Southern Leopard Frogs calling to upload here, but they have a lot more patience than I do!   When the weather is cool they will call in the day when it is easier to video them calling, but around here they almost always call at night.   So until I get a video of them calling, here's a video taken by my friend Tim Evans of one calling in Arkansas.   Notice the way the vocal sacs protrude from the sides of the head, not from under the chin like most other frogs.

Thanks for letting me steal your video, Tim.  (I guess I should tell him?).

© Chris Harrison 2012