Suzanne's Mom's Blog

Photo: Ragosta family via RI Department of Environmental Management.
A family in Rhode Island found a rare blue frog and reported it to the DEM.

What turns kids on to Nature? Often it’s a parent’s enthusiasm about fly fishing, say, or their excitement about a rare bird or wildflower. Sometimes it’s just what kids find on explorations of their world. There are natural curiosities everywhere, even in cities, if you walk around with noticing eyes.

Carlos R. Muñoz reports at the Boston Globe about the rare blue frog Rhode Island boys spotted recently.

“A Rhode Island family made the remarkable discovery of a rare blue frog [in July] and reported it to the state Department of Environmental Management. The bullfrog displayed signs of a rare pigmentation known as axanthism, which is a lack of color-bearing cells that turns green frogs blue.

“The department said in a Facebook post on its Division of Fish and Wildlife Outdoor Education page that the condition is most frequently seen in green frogs, leopard frogs, and bullfrogs — species in the Ranidae family of amphibians. …

“A 1966 study by Cornell researchers found that only 69 out of two million frogs (0.003 percent) are blue.

“Michael Berns and Lowell Uhler, authors of the study, said that blue-green frogs are ‘incredibly rare’ but exhibit different regional occurrence rates. In New England, these blue frogs are most common in Massachusetts and Connecticut. …

“ ‘Green frogs are widely distributed throughout Rhode Island, spending most of their lives in freshwater wetlands such as marshes, ponds, streams, and vernal pools,’ according to a DEM brochure authored by wildlife technician Liam Corcoran.

“Kimberly Ragosta, the mother of five whose kids made the once-in-a-million discovery, said her son Jack spotted the glistening blue bullfrog squatting by the road while the kids were running a roadside stand.

“Jack told his mother he was taking a stroll along the road near a swampy woodland area when he noticed the croaking bullfrog’s shimmering skin ‘sticking out like a sore thumb.’ He ushered it into a bucket to show his mother. ‘It didn’t move at all; it was his easiest catch ever,’ Ragosta said.

“Jack went on to research the amphibian and correctly discovered its rarity. They notified the department, but later released the frog into the woods.

“Another blue frog was caught July 2 in northern Rhode Island by 11-year-old Finn Leonard, according to his mother Kate Arsenault Leonard. She saw the department’s Facebook post and commented with a picture of the giant blue frog with a dark leopard print and a broad grin.

“Finn told the Globe that he was trying to catch frogs for a friend when he saw the blue frog and tried to catch it. He said he also saw it last year but could not get it.

“ ‘He hopped out each time,’ Finn Leonard said of his previous attempts to lure the amphibian. He was triumphant this year when he netted the frog, which he said he knew was rare because he saw it on the YouTube Channel ‘Brave Wilderness.’ …

“Kate Arsenault Leonard said one of the reasons her family loves living in rural Rhode Island is the ability to explore nature in their own backyard. They go out looking for salamanders, fishing, watching fireflies, and of course frog hunting. …

“The family is floating ‘Alien’ as a name. Finn set the frog free. …

“DEM said the exact locations of the rare frogs are being kept secret to limit the number of ‘well-intentioned nature observers who inadvertently may cause negative impacts on habitat.’ “

This story reminds me that maple leaves also “turn color” when a certain pigment is missing. And I’m noting the role of the parents here: the kids in both stories knew their adults would be excited. Now they will be doubly inspired to look closely at Nature and try to make more discoveries. Perhaps they’ll be scientists one day. Even if not, they will always be friends of our planet.

More at the Globe, here.