This little Northern Pacific tree frog (aka Pacific chorus frog) was huddled up in the shade against our front door frame in the heat of the day today. It was so hot today that we were worried about her/him suffering or even drying out. The area is surrounded by gravel so I don’t even know how or why it got there in the first place.
We got some pond water into a big beer stein & coaxed her/him onto a leaf then transferred him/her in that to the nearest shady pond. #ClimateCrisis #PNW
If you've never seen one of these jewel beauties in person, just know that they are absolutely the most adorable creatures. I don't think I've ever heard anyone do anything but coo at them the instant they spot one for the first time. They're probably my favorite animal, though I've loved individual cats more :)
To me this little one looks dry especially towards the head. They were in such abundance when I was a child here, but I don't hear or see them like I did.
Note: If you see a frog in distress, you can mist it with water, but DO NOT USE TAP WATER, which has usually been treated with chlorination. We had pond water easily accessible, but sites I looked at mentioned using distilled water.
Chlorine is toxic to frogs.
(That's why I mentioned that we used pond water.)
The chorus frog is "abundant over most of its range [but] there are population declines in some areas"
"Climate change may also pose future threats, particularly by increasing the frequency & severity of droughts (Canadian Herpetological Society, 2022)."
Brattstrom reports 24.0˚C (75F) as the max Pacific treefrogs will voluntarily tolerate.
Eggs live in waters from 3–30˚C (86F).
Tadpoles prefer temps 19–20 ˚C (66-68F), but can tolerate up to 33 ˚C (91F), 5˚C higher (38C or 100.4F) is lethal.
Erin Conroy
Bruce Mirken