treefrog

Approaching a Gray Treefrog in November in Northern Virginia by Todd Henson

A beautiful gray treefrog in Northern Virginia on November 18, 2023

Finding natural subjects in the field is often about pattern recognition developed over time such that it becomes almost subconscious. My father or I will just see something out of the corner of our eye and do a double-take, not necessarily knowing what we saw, just that something stood out. It could have been movement, or color, or texture, anything that stands out as different than we’d expect in that area.

In this case I noticed a round splotch of light color atop a fallen tree. And my first thought was, that can’t possibly be a frog, not on a cool morning in the latter half of November. I figured it was too late and too cold to see amphibians. But I had to check it out.

Did I just see something on that fallen tree?

So I very slowly and carefully moved closer to the log, trying to minimize noise while crunching and shuffling the fallen autumn leaves. I didn’t move directly at the frog. It’s almost never a good idea to directly approach a subject. Instead I moved towards the tree a little ways down from the frog, photographing every so often in case I scared it away, something I was trying very hard to avoid.

This is as close as I got to the gray treefrog with the 35mm lens.

When I reached the log I was on the ground. I moved as close as I thought I could with the wider angle zoom I had (a 16-35mm) and created a photo at 35mm. Then I paused and swapped out lenses for the longest I had with me, moving slowly and quietly. With the 105mm macro I was able to get a closer view of what I now knew was a gray treefrog. And with this extra reach I was also able to confirm it was alive as I could see it breathing.

I switched to my 105mm lens to get a closer view of the gray treefrog.

So I kept moving closer, as close as I felt comfortable I could without scaring away the frog. Thankfully, I’ve found treefrogs are often very tolerant, perhaps trusting in their natural camouflage and hoping by sitting still that nothing can see them. Eventually I got down as low as I could, resting the camera on the log to get as close to eye-level as possible. I do love these frogs, and I love photographing creatures at eye-level.

This was as close as I chose to get to the gray treefrog.

Then I rested the camera on the log to get this eye-level view of the gray treefrog.

As I slowly moved away I stood up and captured a view from above. This is a habit I’ve tried to build, to capture views from as many angles as possible to help identify the species later on. In this case I didn’t need to do it as I knew it was a gray treefrog, but I still try to capture different angles.

Standing up for a top down view shows off the gray treefrog’s patterns.

An interesting note on species is that there are two gray treefrog species in this area, the Cope’s gray treefrog (Hyla chrysoscelis) and the gray treefrog (Hyla versicolor). They look identical and the only ways to tell them apart in the field are via their call, unless you happen to be in an area that’s home to only one of the two. And seeing as how I’ve yet to hear a gray treefrog, I’ve no clue which this was.

Regarding my surprise seeing one this late in the year, I learned from the Virginia Herpetological Society that they can be found in November (obviously, because we found this one then) and potentially later. They have some natural tolerance to freezing temperatures, producing glycerol and glucose to protect them from freezing. This lets them survive at temperatures down to -2 to -6 C for short periods of time, and they can even survive multiple freezing and thawing events. Pretty interesting, eh?


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Green on Green by Todd Henson

Green on green: mantis

Sometimes we use color in photography to help accentuate the subject, perhaps by using bold colors that just jump right out at us. But sometimes it’s fun to create photographs with a far simpler color palette, perhaps demonstrating how subjects can blend into the background, essentially becoming a part of it.

In this case while out photographing on the boardwalk I was lucky to see and photograph two instances of green subjects on a green background. In the first case I found a young mantis, likely a Chinese mantis, resting on some leaves. It took a lot of moving back and forth to find a position where I was able to get this little insect in frame and in focus. Each time I moved it was also a struggle to find it again against all that green. :-)

Green on green: treefrog

In the second case I noticed another photographer already focusing on a subject. As I walked by we struck up a conversation and he pointed out the small green treefrog resting on a green plant. He offered to move aside and let me photograph it from where he stood (which was a great location to get a side view of the frog), but this was his find and I didn’t want to pressure him to move so I created a couple quick photographs from a slightly different position and left him in peace to continue composing with the treefrog as I’d done with the mantis.

These sorts of monochromatic scenes can be a lot of fun to explore. And they don’t have to involve a unique subject different from the background. In many cases the subject and background can be one and the same.

Steven Schwartzman has more examples of green on green in his post, Green, green, and more green.


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Sheltered Gray Treefrog by Todd Henson

Sheltered: A large gray treefrog resting on the rail

My neighborhood isn’t the sort of place I expect to find wildlife, and yet I do continue to find it in small numbers and especially in small forms. One that I’ve seen and photographed a few times now are small gray treefrogs, which seem to like my steps and railing.

Let Me Sleep!

I found this particular frog in the early afternoon one Sunday as I was heading out the door. Out of the corner of my eye I happened to see a shape I wasn’t used to seeing on the end of the railing at the base of my front steps and did a double take when I noticed this good sized gray tree frog sheltered in curve of the metal raining, sleeping off the day and waiting for night to head back out and about. The way the sun sets it picked a perfect position to shelter its eyes from much of the light. I had to bring up the shadows a fair bit in post-production to let you see its eyes.

Gray treefrog closeup

As you can see, its eyes were open, so it was aware I was there, but it didn’t see me as a threat and just remained resting as I slowly moved closer creating photos. The last photo gives a decent view of one of this frog’s eyes. Look at the interesting patterns there, and the little bits of color, like the orange in the eye and the green just below it. I never get tired of viewing these amazing little creatures.

For more, check out the two previous posts where I had encounters with gray treefrogs at the front of my house:


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