A Guide to California's
Reptiles and Amphibians

Sounds of
Arizona Treefrog - Hyla wrightorum

Taylor, 1939 “1938”

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Click the speaker icon to listen to an mp3 sound file.

Male Calling at Night

Recording Location in Daylight

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.

The following sounds were recorded at night in the mountains of Coconino County, Arizona at the
The locations are shown on the right during daylight.

This is a 90 second recording of the advertisement calls of a large group of Arizona Treefrogs calling at night in Coconino County, Arizona.

This is a 5 second recording of the advertisement calls of three male Arizona Treefrogs calling at night in Coconino County, Arizona.

This is a 23 second recording of the advertisement calls of a close group of Arizona Treefrogs calling at night in Coconino County, Arizona.

Encounter Call

An encounter call is made by a male frog to warn other male frogs that they are too close. The encounter call of the Arizona Treefrog is a short low grating rasping sound.

This is a short example of one encounter call made by a male Arizona Treefrog at night in Coconino County, Arizona.

This is a 21 second recording of the advertisement calls of a close group of Arizona Treefrogs calling at night in Coconino County, Arizona, including two encounter calls.

Short Videos


Views of eleven adult male Arizona Treefrogs calling at night from a rain pool in Coconino County, Arizona, with a deafening chorus in the background.	Views of three calling males, bothered by other frogs, making a raspy, ratcheting encounter or territorial call.	A calling male is swarmed by a bunch of other frogs (presumably males) who begin attempting to amplex each other, resulting in encounter and release calls. It could be that a female had entered the territory and that attracted them. If so, she managed to escape without being grabbed one of the males.

	Male frogs compete in the breeding pool at night, swimming and jumping all over each other in a frenzy.

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

Carlos Davidson - Frog and Toad Calls of the Pacific Coast

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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Sounds of Arizona Treefrog - Hyla wrightorum

Sounds of
Arizona Treefrog - Hyla wrightorum