A couple of weeks back, a friend and I were talking near a garden at a therapeutic riding center when we spotted a tiny green creature hopping out of a cluster of small plants and onto a road. We tried to corral it to get it out of the road, and then it jumped onto my hand. It was a young gray tree frog, newly emerged from a nearby pond where it spent time as a tadpole. 

Between riding sessions, I managed to get a good look for more baby tree frogs, and it turned out that we had a gathering of young-of-year gray tree frogs; most of them favored the top rail of the fence surrounding the outdoor riding arena. It left them somewhat vulnerable to predators; however, I did not see any signs of predation. They stayed at their selected perch for several hours, and if they were missing, it was usually due to the sun making them too warm, causing them to move.

When tree frogs are adults, you will be lucky to see one or two at a time, hearing them more than seeing them, due to their ability to make their coloration match their surroundings. 

Having all these young tree frogs in one spot, however, gave us the opportunity to see the myriad of color phases side by side. Pigment-containing cells on the frog’s skin, called chromatophores, enable the tree frog to change color. A song written in 1970 by country singer Dolly Parton, who recently passed away, comes to mind. The title, “Coat of Many Colors,” defines the ability of this species to change its appearance through the magic of nature, even as new froglets.