The Parachuting Red-eyed Leaf Frog (Agalychnis saltator) is another bright green leaf frog from the tropical lowlands of the Atlantic versant of northeastern Costa Rica. There are also disjunct populations in northern Nicaragua and eastern Honduras. This frog is similar looking to the Red-eyed Leaf Frog (A. callidryas) but lacks the light striping within the lateral blue side stripes
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| Agalychnis saltator range map from the IUCN Red Database |
The curious name "Parachuting" Leaf Frog is a reference to their habit of leaping down from high in the tree canopy down onto lower leaves for reproduction. As they drop, they spread their toes and use their widely webbed feet to slow their descent.
Males of this species call from leaves near or over water edges. The individuals we found were calling from much higher leaves than the congeneric species of leaf frogs which share their breeding ponds. A couple of males were calling 3 or 4 meters off the ground.
To my ear, the call of this species is a short dry "wreck" or "ruck" sound. It has a carrier frequency around 2300 Hz, quite a bit lower than other Leaf Frogs. Here is an edited recording of this species where I have removed most of the other frog species and removed periods of intervening silence.
In this second recording, you hear more of what it sounded like with several other species calling with the A. saltator.
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© Chris Harrison 2025
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