Last summer I had the opportunity to ask Kermit, the Muppet frog, about what frogs and toads do as winter approaches. He wasn’t much help.

For the four species of toads that may be found in NE Kansas, the issue is simple: they dig down and make a burrow in loose dry dirt, a rotting log, or perhaps in behind the exposed roots of a streamside tree. Once there, bodily processes slow down, and the animal rides out the winter.

For the six species of frogs that may occur in our area, the situation is much more complicated. Speaking of American frogs in general, some do overwinter at the bottom of ponds and streams among the bottom debris or in soft mud, with the surface ice serving as an insulation layer. Some overwinter behind tree bark, a layer of leaf litter, under a rock, in a tangle of tree roots, or by burrowing into a rotting log. Some species spend the winter months in seeps and springs where the water does not freeze. Some of these over-wintering spots would seem less than ideal.

Some frog species are surprisingly cold-tolerant and are aided in this tolerance by secreting natural anti-freeze compounds into their body fluids to prevent crystallization of water in their cells—the real danger from getting cold. Some frogs truly are amazing. The wood frog, e.g., (not found in our area) can withstand being frozen for up to two weeks at a temperature of 21-26 degrees Fahrenheit.

Another twist in the world of “frogdom” was revealed to me years ago when I heard a biologist read a paper at an annual meeting of the Ohio Academy of Sciences. The biologist read a paper at an annual meeting of the Ohio Academy of Sciences. The biologist had placed remote sensors on six bullfrogs living in a large pond in northern Ohio. To his surprise, the frogs moved around under the ice. Data from his weekly location readings revealed that some of the frogs—and not always the same ones—would be found at significant distances from last week’s location.

 This is why I exerted considerable effort to study the melted edge of the Bayer Pond ice last Saturday during that sunny 41-degree day. Saw neither frogs nor signs of frog activity—but one never knows, out there!