Bob Suchanek, Water and Wetlands Steward
Circular time is collective time, time that binds us and the living world together... - Iain McGilchrist
The frogs are coming! Here’s a brief schedule and guide to the spring frog return:
March through late April
Wood Frog Sounds like a quacking duck.
Found all over Minnesota except for the southwestern corner. It’s been said that a chorus “sounds similar to a group of feeding mallards”.
Boreal Chorus Frog Sounds like strumming the teeth of a comb repeatedly.
Found in most counties in Minnesota, they appear in many wetland habitats are common urban callers. The sound is accurately described as “similar to the sound made when running one's thumb down the teeth of a comb”.
Early April through early May
Spring Peeper Sounds like high pitched peeps.
A familiar harbinger of spring, peepers are found in Minnesota's “nonprairie” counties. Oldfield and Moriarty describe the call as “a high pitched peep or ping..large choruses sound like sleigh bells and can be deafening when heard up close”.
Northern Leopard Frog Sounds like: low snores with grunts and squeaks.
There are Northern Leopard Frogs in every Minnesota county. The call has been described as “a low snore mixed with resonant grunts and squeaks”.
Early May through late May
Pickerel Frog Sounds like: soft, low-pitched snores.
These frogs are restricted to the southeast corner of Minnesota, including Goodhue, Winona, and Houston counties. The call is a soft, low-pitched snore.
Early May through early June
American Toad Sounds like: 20-30 second high pitched musical trills.
Found in most counties in Minnesota. The sound is described as a high pitched musical trill that lasts around 20 or 30 seconds. The song can be “deafening” when hundreds of singers chime in together.
Great Plains Toad Sounds like: 20-50 second pulsating mechanical trills.
Found in the western border counties of Minnesota from Marshall County to Rock County and as far east as Nicollet County. The mating call is harsh, pulsating, and mechanical and lasts for 20 to 50 seconds.
Canadian Toad Sounds like: 8 second musical trills.
Found in western and northwestern Minnesota from the Minnesota River in Lac Qui Parle County north through the Red River valley. Their calls are similar to American Toads but the trill is much shorter; from 2 to around 8 or 9 seconds.
Late May through early June
Great Plains Toad Sounds like: 20-50 second pulsating mechanical trills.
Found in the western border counties of Minnesota from Marshall County to Rock County and as far east as Nicollet County. The mating call is harsh, pulsating, and mechanical and lasts for 20 to 50 seconds.
Canadian Toad Sounds like: 8 second musical trills.
Found in western and northwestern Minnesota from the Minnesota River in Lac Qui Parle County north through the Red River valley. Their calls are similar to American Toads but the trill is much shorter; from 2 to around 8 or 9 seconds.
Late May through late June
Gray Treefrog Sounds like: 1 second high pitched trills.
Found in most of Minnesota except for the southwest corner. These frogs call from the trees above ponds! The mating call is a series of short (about 1 second) trills. Some listeners mistake treefrog calls for an unspecified insect call.
Cope's Gray Treefrog Sounds like: 1 second high pitched metallic trills.
Records indicate their presence in the central third of Minnesota where they frequent woodland edge habitats, prairie edges, and oak savannahs. Like the Gray Treefrog, these frogs call from the trees . The mating call is a series of short (about 1 second) trills similar to the Gray Treefrog's but with a metallic edginess.
Northern Cricket Frog Sounds like: clicking ball bearings.
These frogs have been heard in the southeastern and southwestern counties of Minnesota but there's some question about their current presence in Minnesota. Oldfield and Moriarty described the call of the male as “a glick, glick, glick sound similar to the clicking of ball bearings”.
Early June through early July
Mink Frog Sounds like pulling a stick along a picket fence.
Northern Minnesota frogs with a distinctive “knock-knock-knock” call that sounds like someone pulling a stick along a picket fence.
Green Frog Sounds like plucking an out of tune banjo.
Found in the eastern half of Minnesota from Koochiching county in the north to Houston county in the southeast. Green Frogs have a startling “plunk” call that sounds like someone plucking an out of tune banjo.
Bullfrog Sounds like “jug-a rum” over and over.
In Minnesota the natural distribution is south of Winona along the backwaters of the Mississippi. Introduced populations have been heard in Blue Earth, Chisago, Jackson, Stearns, and Washington counties. The male's call is a deep baritone “jug-a-rum”.
Some sources:
Amphibians and Reptiles Native to Minnesota by Barney Oldfield and John J. Moriarty, University of Minnesota Press, 1994
Amphibians and Reptiles in Minnesota by John J. Moriarty and Carol D. Hall, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, 2014
https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/reptiles_amphibians/frogs_toads/opera.html