Cope's Gray Tree Frog in Central South Dakota
A breeding population is present below the Oahe Dam in Stanley County, S.D. On June 13, 2003 I heard calling frogs but didn't recognize the calls. Tree frogs are not to be expected out here! On June 16 I returned and recorded the calls. Then I waded into the wetland and caught this Cope's gray tree frog.
Surprising, to say the least. Did Cope's gray tree frogs once range along the Missouri River floodplain even further north than Pierre, South Dakota? We may never know since the habitat is now a huge reservoir. This newly discovered occurrence is over 200 miles northwest of the nearest records of this species, in Union County in southeast South Dakota.
