While I was in the process of pulling wood from our firewood pile to cook dinner over I happened upon this little Pacific Tree Frog, Pseudacris regilla. Now I know the frog is named a "TREE" frog but I think it may have been a bit confused. Normally the "TREE" frog will be on or around a living tree, but this one seemed content to be on chopped up pieces of tree stacked under a thick tarp.

I will concede that this is probably the primary reason for it being on the firewood, the tarp creates a nice dark environ that retains a large amount of moisture that all amphibians require. The location of the wood pile also makes it a good place for the frog to hide from potential predators and it is very close to the creek and creek bed.

The frog was pulled from the wood pile and deposited on the arm of a yard chair near the fire pit in the sun. My oldest boy J was intent on holding the frog so we had a session of teaching the concept of GENTLY holding the frog. It of course leapt quickly from his grasp, at which point J gathered it back up, again and again. Finally I figured it had had enough so I pout it back on the chair arm and got pictures of it.

Here is an excerpt from the book, "Natural History of the Pacific Northwest Mountains - A Timber Press Field Guide" by Daniel Mathews.

After 1980 at Mt. St. Helens it was able to disperse a distance of perhaps 10 miles into the crater, considerably father than other amphibians. Hot dry spells might have made this recolonization impossible if gophers had not recolonized first, digging burrow systems for amphibians to take shelter in."

I learn something new each time I go digging for an id. Learning is GOOD!

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