The Red-eyed Tree Frog (Agalychnis callidryas) is the poster child for treefrogs and maybe frogs. They are used in signs and commercials all over the world, in spite of the fact that they are only found in southern Mexico and Central America. They are frogs of the rainforest, but can also be found in cleared areas and even agricutural ponds.
Their fame has to be due to their charismatic red eyes, bright green skin, red feet and blue flanks. They are quite colorful when exposed like this, but when resting they flatten themselves out, close their eyes and become little more than a green lump on a leaf.
Here's one that was sitting on a leaf next to a small pond at night.
When I approached the frog he ducked down and flattened out and "disappeared". They even cover their red eyes with a semi-transparent nictitating membrane. It didn't have time to hide its toes, but in the day when sleeping there is nothing visible but a pale green lump on the underside of a large leaf.
The call of this beautiful frog is anything but beautiful. It is a coarse, dry "rick-it". They call from leaves over ponds and streams and can be heard on warm rainy nights throughout their range.
Looking at the spectrogram, you can see the buzzy nature of the longer "rick" part and then the shorter punctation of the "kit" part.
In the following recording you can hear a Red-eyed Treefrog calling its higher "rick-it" calls above the percussive double "tuk-tuk" of Rosenberg's Gladiator Frog (Boana rosenbergi)
Red-eyed Treefrog Calls from Gulfo Dulce, Costa Rica.
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© Chris Harrison 2023
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