Three Dog Night honestly crooned, “One is the loneliest number that you’ll ever do.” A single gray treefrog found on the inside of a porch window of a marsh-front cottage in Menemsha a few weeks back could be singing the same tune.

Gray treefrogs are not a common animal on Martha’s Vineyard. In fact, there has been some dialogue about their existence on the Island at all. 

Mass. Wildlife, the state agency that keeps track of the species of the commonwealth and maintains the official Massachusetts State Amphibian list, notes that gray treefrogs are found “Statewide except Martha’s Vineyard Island and Nantucket County.” This list, however, was last updated in April 2009.

It just might be time for a revision!

Local resources have something else to say about this little frog. Allan Keith, chronicler of Vineyard biodiversity and one of the authors of Island Life: A Catalog of the Biodiversity on and Around Martha’s Vineyard, maintains that there are gray treefrogs on the Island, calling them “very rare and local; known only from Tisbury.”

Going further back in the literature and adding to our local and historic knowledge of the species is James D. Lazell Jr. In his 1976 book This Broken Archipelago, Cape Cod and the Islands, Amphibians and Reptiles, Mr. Lazell wrote that these treefrogs are “rather scarce over most of the Cape, but exceedingly abundant on unsprayed Naushon and its annectent little islets to the east...Grey treefrogs are amazingly salt-tolerant... It may well have originally been present on Nantucket and the Vineyard... Look for grey treefrogs on windows at night, when indoor lights are on. These wonderful insect predators are fond of policing window panes — which they climb with ease — to do you the favor of eating up the bugs.” 

This could be a case of lost and found and underscores the importance of observation and the sharing of findings with others. The gray treefrog found in Menemsha was photographed and posted on a Facebook wildlife and nature site for identification and comment.

Gray treefrogs are one of only two treefrogs found in Massachusetts. The other, the familiar spring peeper, known locally as pinkletink, both reside in the scientific family Hylidae. Members of this family have a few characteristics in common, including unique feet. Highly specialized toe pads provide for great grips and extra suction, allowing these frogs to hold on to the bark of trees; and the last bone in their toes, called the terminal phalanx, is shaped like a claw.

With these advantages they can climb up trees and other vegetation, which is where they generally reside. It is mostly during the spring breeding season, or to find an easy meal of insects at the porch light, that they come down to ground level.

Adult gray treefrogs are masters of disguise. They can camouflage themselves, and can range in color from green to gray to yellow, depending on the color of their surroundings. Look for a star pattern on their backs, and on their underside, the presence of bright yellow patches on their hind legs provides positive identification and deterrence to predators. Gray treefrogs are also very small (reaching up to two inches), though slightly larger than the tiny pinkletink.

Keep looking and listening for the trill of these fantastic little frogs. We could set the record straight on their Island existence and give our friend from Menemsha a bit of hope. And who knows — maybe someone will find a mate for this forlorn frog, because from its usual perch in the trees, it is likely very lonely at the top. 

Suzan Bellincampi is director of the Felix Neck Wildlife Sanctuary in Edgartown, and author of Martha’s Vineyard: A Field Guide to Island Nature.