Along with the regular treefrogs , I am suddenly seeing large numbers of chorus frogs in my yard, on the house, the steps. They can be found in the yard by day but really come out thick at night. I know they did the bulk of their breeding a few months ago, but they are still highly visible here.

According to my Field Guide to Amphibs and Reps of Illinois by the Illinois Nat Hist Survey (manual 8) these should be the western, or Pseudacris triseriata . The cutoff for the upland chorus frog is something like three counties south of here. These frogs are almost totally free of markings, if there is any striping along the back it ranges from indistinct to nearly invisible. The largest individual I have seen was possibly 4 cm, but most are considerably smaller. They do have the white stripe along the upper jaw, very tiny toe pads, and no webbing. One thing I have noticed that does not seem to be mentioned anywhere is that they all seem to have a golden color, almost an iridescence. In the right light it turns a dull tannish brown.

Stecker's chorus frog is way up north from here...we are in Jefferson, almost Hamilton Co.

COuld this be a remnant population of uplands or is there quite a bit of variation in marking with the westerns? I'm mainly just curious since they don't really look like anything I can find photo-wise... I am sure they enjoy having the swampy bottoms here, but I hate having to watch every single step to make sure I'm not squashing frogs.