Overview
The Upland Chorus Frog (Pseudacris feriarum) is a diminutive, secretive treefrog celebrated as one of the very first harbingers of spring across the eastern United States. Even when late-winter snow flurries still dust the forest floor, hundreds of these miniature frogs gather in temporary vernal pools to announce the changing season with their distinctive, rasping breeding chorus—a sound famously likened to running a finger across the teeth of a pocket comb.
Biology and Physical Characteristics
Pseudacris feriarum is a small, slender frog with smooth to finely granular skin colored grey-brown to tan. Its dorsal pattern typically consists of three broken or continuous dark brown longitudinal stripes, complemented by a dark brown mask running through the eye and down the flank, underlined by a crisp white line along the upper lip. Its small toe pads provide moderate climbing ability, though it spends most of its life near the forest floor.
Behavior and Ecology
A secretive ground-dweller, the Upland Chorus Frog spends non-breeding months hidden beneath leaf litter, decaying logs, and subterranean burrows in moist woodlands and meadows. In late winter (often as early as February), adults migrate to fishless temporary pools, flooded roadside ditches, and shallow wetlands to breed. Females deposit small clusters of 20 to 100 eggs attached to submerged twigs and grass blades.
Conservation and Human Impact
Assessed as Least Concern by the IUCN, the Upland Chorus Frog remains widespread across the southeastern and mid-Atlantic states. However, because it relies strictly on fishless ephemeral vernal pools for successful reproduction, draining of isolated wetlands and roadway pesticide runoff represent ongoing local conservation threats.
Interesting Factoid
The breeding call of the Upland Chorus Frog sounds exactly like someone running their thumbnail across the fine plastic teeth of a pocket comb; thousands calling together can be heard over half a mile away through winter woods.