June 10, 2007 - Wet Banjos Welcome to the Nature Notebook. From local ponds, marshes and wetlands you can hear what sounds like plunking on a wet banjo. [audio of green frog calls] From the warm, shallow waters come the sounds of this musician that never seems to finish tuning its instrument. But then, it doesn’t need to, because it is a green frog. These common frogs look somewhat like a bullfrog but are slightly smaller with a pointed snout. Males have yellow throats and are responsible for the twangy calls. They serenade prospective females from the water or perched on the leaves of aquatic plants. Males put their whole body into making their low-pitched plunking sounds. With each call their throat and sides expand and then deflate. Triggered by warming waters, this annual courtship ritual can last well into the summer. Throughout that time you can hear the wet banjo plunk of green frogs. This is PPL's naturalist, Jon Beam, with the Nature Notebook for WVIA.