First the Admiral chickens – now, see the Seaview … frog? toad?

| Seaview | West Seattle news | Wildlife

(The chickens are reported to be back home, by the way.) Meantime, if you happen to see THIS critter hopping along the West Seattle shore sometime soon, here’s the story behind it: Maria says it showed up in her Seaview backyard, and isn’t sure whether it’s a frog or toad (we vote for the latter). The silver coin alongside it is a quarter, for comparison. She reports, “We lured the frog into a large paper bag and released it by Lowman Beach! He was a big fella, that is for sure! I’d say at least 6 inches square!!”

kate June 3, 2010 (12:54 am)

Why was the frog captured at all? Frogs and toads don’t live at the beach. I’m I missing something here??

Ribbit June 3, 2010 (2:21 am)

No Kate, I don’t think you are missing anything. Unless, perhaps, the frog was found in the middle of the road, like the chickens??? Then the frog rescuers would be good Samaritans, except frogs hang out around freshwater, not salt water. They live in marshy, bracken ditches and ponds and puddles and some hang in trees. Maybe it’ll find it’s way to a nice swampy bit of brush somewhere?

herongrrrl June 3, 2010 (3:05 am)

That doesn’t look like any native frog I know…looks too smooth to be a toad to me. Our native toads do get pretty large, but this doesn’t look like one at all. It looks to me like a bullfrog, which is a pest species here.

Gini Johnson June 3, 2010 (4:14 am)

I worked in a pet store years ago. We sold toads(not that big) and I know they liked fresh water. It may be a pet that was released. They eat tons of bugs… I don’t think they should be bagged and relocated. He/she was at the found location for a reason. My Dad ate frog/toad legs when he was kid in Kansas!

miws June 3, 2010 (6:07 am)

I wonder if he’ll visit the Ducky Reserve while he’s down at Lowman? ;)

Mike

Melissa June 3, 2010 (7:16 am)

Looks an awful lot like a young bullfrog! If so, it’s a terrible exotic species that eats up all our native frogs.

It’s a good thing that you released it by the saltwater. Hopefully it doesn’t find its way back to our native ponds and wetlands.

celeste17 June 3, 2010 (7:43 am)

Can’t help myself “Jeremiah was a Bullfrog”. Song is stuck in my head.

Trileigh June 3, 2010 (7:46 am)

It’s a frog, not a toad (smooth damp skin). It doesn’t have the shape of a bullfrog, but I don’t know what kind of frog it is. They don’t belong by salt water! But hopefully it’ll find its way to the wetland behind Lowman Beach. Thanks for the photo!

Maria June 3, 2010 (8:07 am)

The reason we relocated it was because my husband was about to mow the lawn and he was afraid he’d run over it! Yes, there is a wetland behind Lowman Beach- we didn’t drop him in the sound or anything (;

William Brewer June 3, 2010 (10:06 am)

Doesn’t look like any native (indigenous) frog or toad species to me and is therefore potentially harmful to the ecosystem. Next time catch it and put it in a plastic bag and put it in the freezer for 24 hours and then dump the bags’ contents in the garden waste container—that’s what we were told to do by fish and wildlife officials in Hawaii as the best way to get rid of the introduced Bufo toads.

Lisa K June 3, 2010 (10:52 am)

Large, non-native frogs are really terrible predators. They’ll eat pretty much anything they can get their mouths around, including ducklings. ICK. Hope something else finds it first.

miws June 3, 2010 (12:51 pm)

“They’ll eat pretty much anything they can get their mouths around, including ducklings”

Yikes! :o

Okay, I rescind my previous comment!

“Can’t help myself “Jeremiah was a Bullfrog”. Song is stuck in my head.”

Celeste, after clicking back on this story just now, the song Hello my Baby, Hello my Honey…, (if that’s the actual title), from the classic WB cartoon with the singing frog popped into my head.

Thanks for giving me another earworm to alternate it with! ;)

Mike