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It’s so nice to see a native frog species! (I love Cuban tree frogs, but they’re invasive and eat gorgeous native frogs like this.) This is an American green tree frog, Dryophytes cinereus, about 6cm long and actually native to Florida.

American “green” tree frogs actually come in all sorts of colors, from yellow-olive to lime green, depending on lighting and ambient temperature. They commonly, although not always, have a white or cream line running from their upper lips to their groin. Males have wrinkled throats (because of their vocal pouches) and are slightly smaller than the females.

Like many frogs, American green tree frogs enjoy moist, marshy habitats with floating vegetation. They primarily eat insects, including mosquitoes, so I automatically love them.

The males’ call actually competes acoustically with the call of the invasive Cuban tree frog. In areas where the species overlap, the green tree frog has modified its call to be shorter, louder, and more frequent to stand out from the calls of the Cuban frogs.

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