Driveway Bullfrog

Bullfrog in the driveway

Here’s an odd thing that happened today. I was walking near  the horse trailer, carrying a forkful of manure over to the fruit trees. And I see a large frog sitting in the dust on the edge of the driveway.

A couple of days ago, I posted about seeing a Woodhouse’s Toad in our garden, next to a large ornamental ceramic frog. Seeing this frog in the driveway was so unexpected that I spent several seconds telling myself that I was actually seeing that ceramic ornamental frog in the driveway, even though the ceramic frog is colored black, not green.

Anyway, I came to my senses and realized that this was an errant Bullfrog.

From the frog’s size, I’d guess it was an adult. And if it’s an adult, then it’s probably a female. What on earth was it doing in the dust of our driveway? It seems to dry for a frog to be walking around, even though we have had some light monsoonal rain lately.

I was able to pick her up easily, she did not struggle at all.

Bullfrog in my hand. I think this is an adult female frog.

Where did she come from? We live near the Cortez City Water Plant, and they have been doing a lot of construction there lately. Maybe her pond was disrupted by the construction?

There are also Bullfrogs in our neighbor’s pond, perhaps a half mile or so away from us. Maybe she just naturally dispersed up from there. I don’t know much about the natural history of Bullfrogs - do they just naturally disperse away at certain times of year? Our neighbor, nearby and just downstream from us, has breeding Bullfrogs in his pond, perhaps she came from there.

We’ve lived here for 15 years, though, and this is the first time I’ve found a Bullfrog hopping around in the driveway. I did find a young Bullfrog, probably born last year, down in the creek early this Spring. But prior to these sightings, I had not seen any Bullfrogs at all on our property.

That’s two Bullfrog sightings this year, when I’ve not seen any for the previous 15 years. I’m going to guess that this is a real expansion.

So…to the West of us, we’ve got the heavy construction at the Water Plant. To the East of us, our neighbor bulldozed/removed a large pond last year. Perhaps my sightings this year are related to those events?

Another funny thing. Previous years, we’ve had qutite a few Western Chorus Frogs (Pseudacris triseriata) calling in the Spring and early Summer.

Last year we heard fewer of them, and this year we’ve only heard a couple. Could the noticeable decline in our Western Chorus Frogs be caused by the expansion of the Bullfrogs? Chorus Frogs are tiny in comparison with the Bullfrogs, and Bullfrogs are notorious for eating anything that will fit into their mouths.

Or has the decline in our Chorus Frogs been caused by the same factor(s) that are making the Bullfrogs more common this year? So, both the Bullfrogs and the Chorus Frogs are responding to the same pressures?

I’m guessing that it’s both - habitat changes hurt the Chorus Frogs and encouraged the Bullfrogs to expand here, and the newly-moved Bullfrogs ate the Chorus Frogs.

Released Bullfrog in our temporary seep-pond.

Bullfrogs are non-native here in Southwestern Colorado, and they eat lots of native wildlife. There are lots of people that would say I should kill the Bullfrog - she’s an invasive.

On the other hand, at least she’s here. She’s surviving and alive.  And the reason Bullfrogs (and Tamarisk, and Russian Olive, and Russian Thistle, and Cheat Grass, and…) are here is because  we humans spread them.

The World is at a point where I’m grateful to see anything alive, honestly. Even if it is an “invasive”.

There is a spot down the hill where irrigation water follows a buried layer of clay in the soil and forms a seep on our property. Earlier this year, I fenced part of the seep to keep the horses and deer out, and then dug a shallow depression in the soil. The seep filled the depression forming a tiny pond.

I took the Bullfrog down to the seep-pond and let her go.

Released Bullfrog

She probably won’t stay there, but at least she’s not in danger of drying out anymore.