Pickerel Frog

​Identification:

A Pickerel Frog can easily be mistaken for a Northern or Southern Leopard Frog. All are medium-sized, spotted frogs that rarely sit still long enough to allow for a close look. Pickerel Frogs have a tan to bronze ground color (never bright green!) with oblong to squarish chocolate brown spots arranged in 2 or 3 parallel rows running down the back between the rounded but prominent bronze-colored dorsolateral folds. Additional rows of brown spots run along the sides, and a dark snout spot is usually present in front of the eyes. The eardrum lacks a light spot. Adult Pickerel Frogs have a bright yellow to orange coloration on the inner surface of the thighs.

Most kinds of frogs have at least some chemical protection from predators in their skin, but Pickerel Frogs are better protected than the others. When stressed, these frogs release a sour-smelling skin secretion that can irritate most animals' mucus membranes and may kill other amphibians. If you keep a Pickerel Frog in a terrarium with other frogs, you need to be very nice to him, so he doesn’t get upset and slime his fellow inmates.

Pickerel Frogs are found nearly statewide in Kentucky but are curiously absent from the Western Coal Field and Jackson Purchase. The adults live in forested habitats, often close to small woodland streams, and can also be found in caves or narrow rock crevices along the bases of cliffs and rock outcrops. Pickerel Frogs breed in ponds, small lakes, and wetlands in or near wooded areas; the breeding season lasts for 2-3 weeks in March and April. The male advertisement call is a low soft, growling snore lasting 2-3 seconds and can be roughly imitated by slowly rubbing one’s wet hands over an inflated balloon.