Endless frogs most beautiful: Hypsiboas crepitans

First off, forgive my punny title. To make up for that, I'll keep the words to a minimum on this one. Here are my vast collection of photos of Hypsiboas crepitans, a treefrog (Hylidae) that was one of the most abundantly encountered anurans on Hato Masaguaral. They are highly variable in pattern, with lots of plain browns but some are quite nice. The best part are the eyes. Don't get sucked in.

As the season progressed into November and the rainy season began winding down, the frogs begin showing up more and more in our parrotlet nest boxes, in our homes, in our clothes. I'm not really sure why, but it sure is hilarious to open a nest box and not see the bottom.


That's over twelve Hypsiboas crammed in there. I just wish I got the photo that evening. When I walked up on the box in the twilight, a big dark mass bulging out of the entrance hole startled me. I shined my light on it and saw two dozen eyes staring back at me as they were all scrambling out for the night.

During the breeding season, they call from elevated perches over wet areas. Before I learned their call I spent fifteen minutes sifting through a flooded patch of pasture before I happened to look up and see the calling frog just over my head in a shrub. To hear their call, check out my frog video compilation.