Episode 98: Northern Leopard Frog – Voice of the Wild

Northern Leopard Frog (Lithobates pipiens).  

The frog covered in rows of dark-colored spots.  

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The following Cornell Lab | Macaulay Library recordings were used in this episode: 

• Northern leopard frog call by H C Gerhardt (ML182027)
• Northern leopard frog chorus by Jay McGowan (ML555275521)

Sources and more: 

• Wisconsin Citizen-Based Monitoring Network https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3MUNQi9hncn
• Nature Museum Calling Frog Survey Resources https://naturemuseum.org/cas/community-science/calling-frog-survey-2
• IDNR species page: https://dnr.illinois.gov/education/wildaboutpages/wildaboutfrogs/waftnorthernleopardfrog.html 
• IDNR video series:  https://dnr.illinois.gov/education/edu-pages-main/a-f/edufrogtoad.html

What is Voice of the Wild?

If you learn to listen for them, you will find wildlife everywhere. Voice of the Wild is a podcast about wildlife and the wild sounds they make. Tune in every Friday to learn a new bird song, frog call, or insect noise. Voice of the Wild is an AI-free podcast. Generative tools are not used to write, research, or edit any part of the show.

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

You might hear this frog calling in marshes, wetlands, ponds, and even streams from march to may. While they are of course tied to water for breeding they can also be found foraging relatively far from it; so you might find one in an old field or a prairie. Appropriate to their name, these little three-inch frogs are covered in several rows of dark colored spots: This is the northern leopard frog.

There are three kinds of leopard frog in Illinois, the northern in the northern half, the southern leopard frog in the southern half, and the plains leopard frog in the center. The three frogs look broadly similar but sound quite different. The southern version has a shorter, chuckling trill, the plains has a shorter staccato “chuck” call, and the northern which, as you’ll hear on this second playthrough, can sound like a deep snore, or like a thumb pushing across an inflated balloon. Here’s the northern leopard 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