Another summer in the rear view mirror. An early drop in temperature makes fall an even grimmer reality. Leaves on the crabapple tree are already half gone, and the finches are looking unkempt as they molt their brightly colored garb from breeding season. As I head upstairs to get a sweatshirt for the first time since spring, something catches my eye on the storm door. Big frog!Quite a specimen, at over 2 inches long. Might just be the largest gray tree frog I've seen this year. I can't say with absolute certainly which kind it is - northern gray or southern gray - but I have to assume it's a northern since those are the ones I hear calling on humid nights. These two species are identical to the eye, and can only be distinguished by their calls.
Frogs, I've found, love my full length glass storm door when the porch light is on. Hundreds of insects circle under the light, making easy targets for a frog. In the earliest days of March, I start checking the doors for spring peepers.
My cat Maestro was the winner of this year's contest to find the first peeper. One day he's going
to break a tooth trying to bite frogs (and birds and chipmunks, and falling leaves and twigs and hemlock cones...) through the glass.The weather may turn chilly, and the trees may start looking bare, but as long as there are frogs on the storm door, I don't have to admit that summer has ended.
