When I built this cedar bird house last year, I was hopeful that it would attract blue birds or some other colorful song birds. So I was somewhat excited to see a “bird” sticking his head out of the house as I was doing some yard work recently. But as I got closer to the house I realized the bird was actually a tree frog; a gray tree frog to be exact. And there were two of them sticking their frumpy frog heads out of the house – one in the front and one in the back.

One of the frogs ducked back into the house but the other guy just sat there totally unfazed as he watched me work. Almost as if he was laughing at me…

I removed the top of the bird house and found there was a whole family of gray tree frogs living within. I counted five frogs but I wouldn’t be surprised if there were others foraging in the nearby trees. These two guys were hanging out together in one of the four house compartments.

Here’s a good side view of one of the frogs. He seemed non-plussed as I positioned the phone camera just inches away.

Check out the neat camouflage pattern on the back of this fella. Gray tree frogs can change their skin color in seconds, sometimes to blend in with their surroundings, other times in response to temperature changes. The color can range from light gray to almost black.

I found this frog on our deck (they like to hang out on the underside of the grill cover). He’s opted for the darker look. And no, he’s not immersed in frog slime; it’s just rain water.

I was a tad disappointed that my fancy bird house attracted frogs rather than birds but I’m not too upset because these frogs seem like interesting creatures. I read that they make “interestingly easy pets that are undemanding and hardy”. They also eat mosquitoes and other bugs so I don’t mind sheltering them. I might even provide them a free meal now and then. Oh, and the other bird house 80 yards away did attract a pair of nesting pair blue birds so my birdhouse-building efforts weren’t totally in vain.

Ribbit, ribbit…