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A Bird-voiced Treefrog looks like a slightly downsized version of a Cope's Gray Treefrog with pale green color on the inner thighs rather than yellow. These frogs are as variable and good at changing color as the Gray Treefrogs. A person can identify a Bird-voiced Treefrog with certainty only by hearing the male advertisement call or by catching the frog and checking the color of the inner thighs.
Bird-voiced Treefrogs live in forested wetland habitats in the Jackson Purchase and Western Coal Field regions. They spend most of their time high in the trees in cypress swamps and flooded bottomland hardwood forests. During the breeding season, which runs from mid-April thru July, they come down near standing water to mate and lay eggs. The advertisement call is a long series of 10 to 20 or more high-pitched musical whistles lasting for several seconds. Each male calls at a slightly different pitch from the others nearby. To stand at the edge of a western Kentucky swamp forest on a calm summer night and listen to a chorus of Bird-voiced Treefrogs is one of the most rewarding experiences nature has to offer.