Columbia spotted frog

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service places Columbia spotted frogs from Alaska and British Columbia south through the northwest and into parts of Wyoming, Nevada and Utah. They live in spring seeps, meadows, marshes, ponds and streams with abundant vegetation, and migrate along riparian corridors between spring breeding, summer feeding and winter hibernation sites.

Adults are brown, gray-brown or olive on the back with irregular dark spots, and Yellowstone adds a cream underside that can be splashed with orange on the thighs. They breed from April to early June depending on temperature and elevation, and adults mostly eat insects. Many similar frogs occur in the same regions, so one photograph rarely settles the identification.

FWS describes a separate Great Basin population in eastern Oregon, southwestern Idaho and northern Nevada, and the agency removed that population from candidate consideration in 2015. That label should not be applied to Utah frogs automatically. Keep out of shallow breeding areas and do not move frogs between waters.

Brown or olive frog with irregular dark spots and a light stripe on the upper jaw; compare several features.

The Great Basin population label applies to Oregon, Idaho and Nevada; no federal status is shown here for Utah frogs.

Stay out of shallow breeding areas and never move frogs between waters.