The temperature was in the low 70’s when we went for a walk Saturday afternoon. We always stop when we pass by the pond at Church Street Park. That afternoon, we noticed a bullfrog in the water. We took some pictures from the trail and watched it for a little while.
The pond was pretty quiet that day. There were a few turtles, and no ducks or geese. We decided to try to get a closer look at the frog. We approached slowly, thinking that it would jump in the water as soon as it noticed us. We got closer and closer, but it didn’t move. It was so strange. We were only 10 feet from the edge of the pond, in clear sight of the bullfrog, and it didn’t dive into the water.
It was a special, quiet moment with a creature that doesn’t normally let humans get close. After several minutes the frog slowly turned away from us and moved a little farther into the pond.
For the rest of the walk we were questioning the behavior of the frog. It wasn’t making noise. It didn’t care that we were so close to it. Why? Was it cold? Was it sick? We had to find out! We brought our curiosity to the internet to learn about bullfrog behavior in the very early spring. This is what we learned:
At this time of year bullfrogs (Lithobates catesbeianus) are just emerging from brumation. Hibernation is the term for warm-blooded animals, while brumation is the term for cold-blooded animals. As the water temperature rises, the frogs slowly start to wake up. It takes a while for the water to warm up, even though the air temperature has been very warm for most of the last two weeks. The bullfrogs are still slow and sleepy right now. They’re not behaving like their “usual” selves. After they wake up and have a few days of warm temperatures they will be more active, hunting, calling, mating and jumping away from humans. We must have caught this particular bullfrog just as it was emerging from its winter home.
Stay curious!