Boreal Chorus Frog
This little fellow was in the grass (1″). A very common frog found throughout the province – except high elevations in the mountains. Like wood frogs, they are freeze tolerant and therefore are pretty widespread as all they need to make them happy is a body of water for breeding and some decent upland habitat surrounding the pond.
I’d say there are three good characteristics that readily identify this frog and distinguish it from others in the province.
1. Its voice (when mature).
2. Granular look to its skin – you can see this texture in the photo of the frog – other frog species have smooth skin and toads in general are (of course) “warty”!
3. The dark eye strip continues past the ear and down the side of the body (in most cases).
This species comes in a wide variety of background colors – various shades of green, brown and gray. Its pattern also various widely – from spots, to stripes, to both spots and stripes, to no markings at all. But the features noted about remain constant no matter the color, pattern, or size of the frog. It is a small species – usually less than 1.5 inches, and is our smallest amphibian… however, the young of other species of frog can technically be the same size depending on their age.
Info from: Alberta Conservation Association
We only see these little fellow when it is really wet here. I’ve only seen them in 2010 and 2014.