Look who hopped by!

An adorable little visitor hopped by recently, and I'm pretty sure you guys are going to appreciate it!

At first I was caught off guard by this frog. I was opening a big patio umbrella and saw kind of a gray blob on the side of the pole. I didn't realize that was the frog's belly at the time. After figuring out what I was looking at, I decided to just close the umbrella again.

This was a new experience for me. I wondered if this frog thought it was on a tree. It was hard to say if it would stay or go, but I put out a little orange dish of water, thinking I could somehow coax it down to the table.

The next day, I opened the umbrella all the way, and it appeared the frog was gone. It was in the very tip top of the umbrella, above my head. This time it just leaped all the way down with a powerful plop onto the table. It sat next to the water dish just looking at me. It was in no hurry to move.

It was like a little lime with legs. Looking at it now, it's amazing that I only read it as a gray blob to begin with. But then, its belly looks far different from its back.

You can see how this frog could fit in with a piece of moss or lichen.

So I took a number of photos of it, actually a great number of photos. It was really hard to decide which pics to share. The frog hung out for several days and I took photos of it in any number of poses. It seemed as happy to pose in different positions as I was to photograph it.

Look at those eyes! It's interesting how later on you'll see its eyes as pure black. I'm not sure why its eyes changed. Maybe the light was affecting the pupils. 

I took a close-up pic of one of its back legs and was then able to notice the surprise yellow details. You're seeing five toes on this foot, right? I ask because later on I'm going to share a chart that shows how to tell a frog from a toad. It matters whether we're seeing four or five toes here. 

Look how high up it was!

At one point the frog scared me, because it hopped straight down at my zoomed out camera lens. It landed on another part of the umbrella, but it really appeared to be coming right at me through the camera! Just this big light gray belly flop right at the lens. I jumped back, checking that I didn't have a frog anywhere on me. 

The third frog day I looked all around for it above my head. Not seeing it, I figured it was gone. Then I noticed it right in front of my face, hugging the pole. 

The frog became a little sneaky near the end, and I started to feel like it was having a fun time just hiding and popping out. 

It was reminding me of a snake at one point, the way it was slithering around. 

This picture shows the frog mid-climb. It was feeling the fabric on the umbrella top with its little hand. Isn't it interesting how the frog's back leg bends? It looks sort of bent backward from what I would have expected. This pic gives a good idea of how the frog could accomplish that spriiiiing of a jump. There's a lot of momentum in those legs.

This next photo cracks me up. It amazes me how this frog could climb and balance in nearly any way. I watched it land perfectly because of those little suction cup toes. If you'd like to get into the scientific nitty gritty of those toes, check out this blog post:

Kermit's Sticky Little Fingers

Anyway, these photo sessions were fun and now I'm kind of missing the frog. I don't miss wondering if a little creature is hiding above me waiting to pounce down while I'm eating. That part was weird. But otherwise, it was fun.

I went to the library and got a few frog books, in the hopes of learning more about the little visitor. Both books are pretty entertaining and filled with frog photos. There are frogs you can't even believe in these books! I mean, there are pictures of critters I wouldn't have even thought were frogs. 

So I think I found my frog in one of the books! This is a gray tree frog. Do you guys think this is a match?

This is another photo from Frogs A Chorus of Colors. Look at that great camouflage. My frog is probably on a tree now and I don't even see it.

I'm assuming that my frog thought the umbrella was a nice smooth tree but has since found real one. 

I learned that these tree frogs can live through our cold winters by changing their glucose levels. A high level of glucose becomes a version of antifreeze for them. When they do this, they turn a dark green. You can even see some pieces of ice on this wood frog.

They can also change their colors to fit into their surroundings, in variations of green and gray. You probably noticed the frog changing color a bit through my photos. Of course, it wasn't going to change into all those colors on the umbrella, but that would have been cool.

So, here's that chart I mentioned earlier. I realize it's pretty hard to read. I tried to make it legible, but you know how it is taking pictures of text. I'm pretty sure what I saw was a frog, not a toad. Although, I read elsewhere that all toads are frogs. The more you try to figure that one out, the more answers you're going to find. 

If anyone out there has experience with the type of frog that came hopping my way, I'd like to hear about it. Or maybe there are some frog experts out there who think what I saw wasn't a gray tree frog. I'm open to any input here. This frog spotting was a first for me and I have to wonder if I'll see one of these again. It's been a summer for new nature experiences. I might blog about some recent owl encounters if I can manage to get some photos of the owls.