BIODIVERSITY
Baja California Tree Frog
Pseudacris hypochondriaca
Photo and Audio Credit: Amanda Sparkman
These are the frogs you hear singing in full chorus all along the ravines on campus. They aren't always near water, but that's where they congregate the most in winter and spring, and that's where they're the loudest.
We have two treefrogs locally--the Baja California tree frog (this one), and the California tree frog. The Baja California tree frog is the one with the mask--two strong, dark lines on either side of its head. But otherwise, colour can vary somewhat, as they can adjust themselves to their surroundings, and there are both brown and green morphs.
PAUL WILLIS
After the Rain
When sourgrass bends sweet and heavy
over the path and even the sumac fawns at my feet,
when little streams run large and muddy
under the light of poison oak,
and when tongues of bark hang sodden
from the paling sheen of eucalyptus—
then, then is there moisture enough in my throat
for praise, if only the tiny frogs would return
to bass the bottom of our song.
—published in Christian Century