A Guide to California's
Reptiles and Amphibians

Sounds of Pseudacris cadaverina - California Treefrog

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Advertisement Calls

An advertisement call is the most well-known call of a frog. It is produced by a male during the breeding season to attract females of his own species. It can also serve an agressive function to defend his calling site by warning rival males of his presence. Frogs usually make the calls around bodies of water that are suitable for breeding and egg laying. These calls can be heard during the evening and at night, and sometimes during daylight at the peak of the breeding season.

The advertisement call of the California Treefrog is a quick low-pitched duck-like quacking that ends abruptly and is given repeatedly. Males call at night. Males also produce a trilled encounter or warning call when interacting closely with other males of the species. (Davidson)

Unless otherwise noted, the following calls were all recorded at night at close range around a small artificial desert pond (shown below left) situated at the mouth of a large rocky riparian canyon in San Diego County. Male frogs were calling while floating on the water, hiding in reeds, and out in the open.

This is a 2 second recording of two advertisement calls of a single frog.

This is a 5 second recording of the advertisement calls of a few frogs, including some rasping warning or encounter calls.

This is an 8 second recording of a small group of frogs, including encounter calls at the end.

This is a 12 second recording of the advertisement calls of a small group of frogs, including encounter calls at the end.

This is a 12 second recording of the advertisement calls of a small group of frogs, including encounter calls. A California Toad can be heard in the background at the very end.

This is a 14 second recording of distant advertisement calls of California Treefrogs and Pacific Treefrogs - Pseudacris regilla, at night in a riparian canyon in San Diego County (shown below right.)

Breeding habitat, San Diego County

Waveform and Sonogram

This is a recording of one repetition of the advertisement call of a California Trefrog recorded at night in San Diego County. The image on the right is a visual representation of this call. Click on it to see a larger image. Click here for information about how to read the waveform and sonogram images.

Short Videos


A male calls on a windy night from the edge of a small pond in San Diego County. He makes three distinct sounds - a low call, then several higher-pitched calls followed by some ratcheting encounter calls, ending with another high-pitched call. Other calling California Treefrogs are heard in the background.	At night at a small pond in San Diego County, after I make an imitation of his call, a male frog repeatedly makes what appears to be his encounter call while aggressively moving towards the camera until he finally hops away. A Red-spotted Toad and other CA Treefrogs are heard in the background.	A male calls on a windy night from the edge of a small pond in San Diego County. Other calling California Treefrogs are heard in the background.

You can listen to more recordings of California Treefrogs on this cd:

Carlos Davidson - Frog and Toad Calls of the Pacific Coast - Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology

and on the cd that comes with this book:

Lang Elliott, Carl Gerhardt, and Carlos Davidson - The Frogs and Toads of North America - Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

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