Episode 97: Western Chorus Frog – Voice of the Wild

This is Brodie with Illinois Extension and I’m here with a new “voice of the wild”

Said to sound like a fingernail running down the teeth of a plastic comb is the call of a frog only an inch and half long. They’re one of the first frogs to emerge in spring and might be heard in great numbers in ephemeral woodland ponds after the first rains of march. Thought their calls will peak in march, their breeding season runs all the way through May. They’re very secretive, but if you chance upon one up close look for the three dark parallel lines along the back. This is the Western chorus frog

Those three lines on the western chorus frog's back are shared with three other frogs in the Pseudacris genus, each of which are residents of Illinois and give a very similar plastic comb sound. Luckily these three frogs have ranges that only barely overlap; so, In Illinois, If you live north of interstate 70, you’ll hear boreal chorus frogs. Between I-70 and Carbondale, you’re likely to find western chorus frogs, and in the southern tip of the state, beyond Carbondale, you’ll encounter the Upland chorus frog.
Of these three frogs, the western chorus frog has the smallest range, extending only across a few midwestern states. Here’s the western chorus frog again

Thank you to the Macaulay library at the Cornell lab for today’s sound. Learn more about voice of the wild at go.illinois.edu/VOW