Red-eyed Treefrog

You probably won’t be lucky enough to spot this frog right off the bat. But it’s out there, and it’s been seen at BIB. If you want to see one yourself, check in bromeliads and high up in the forest canopy, or in the foliage along streams where females lay their eggs.  You’ll have the best chance of finding one after dark.

But in the event that you don’t get lucky, watch this video of red-eyed treefrogs. It’s really cool, and as close as you’re likely to get to the real experience without getting wet. 

You can see how brilliantly colored and marked a treefrog is, but it can also turn dark green or brown if it chooses. When it closes its shocking red eyes and tucks in its orange toes and long, gangly legs for a nap, all that shows is a boring brown or green lump on a leaf.

The disk-like suction-equipped toes allow it to cling to and climb around on slick leaves as it sleeps or hunts for its favorite food – crickets, flies, grasshoppers, moths and frogs smaller than its 2″- 3″ length.

Go out on a dark night and listen for its calls. To recognize what to listen for, here’s a video with red-eyed treefrogs making extremely inelegant sounds (as in, ‘quick, where’s the bathroom?’). It was photographed with night vision cameras, so the frogs appear to be white. But it’s them, all right.  Hilarious!,