Most of Nebraska’s frogs spend more of the year buried in soil than floating in water. That single fact surprises a lot of people who assume every frog needs a pond nearby, but several of the types of frogs in Nebraska are built for the dry grasslands and sandy soils that cover much of the state. From the booming calls of the American bullfrog along the Missouri River to the muffled trill of a toad burrowed six inches underground, Nebraska’s amphibians have adapted to everything from eastern hardwood forests to shortgrass prairie.
Nebraska is home to 11 native species of frogs and toads, a number confirmed by both the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission and academic surveys of the state’s herpetofauna. Nebraska is home to 11 species of frogs and toads and two species of salamanders. Eleven species from five families, of frogs and toads are native to Nebraska. This guide walks through each one, including where it lives, what it sounds like, and how to tell it apart from its closest lookalikes.
| Common Name | Family | Signature ID Clue |
|---|---|---|
| American Bullfrog | True Frog | Largest frog in the state; deep “jug-o-rum” call |
| American Toad | True Toad | Long musical trill, limited to far eastern counties |
| Cope’s Gray Tree Frog | Tree Frog | Only truly arboreal frog native to Nebraska |
| Great Plains Narrow-Mouthed Toad | Narrow-Mouthed Toad | Pointed head, skin fold behind the eyes |
| Great Plains Toad | True Toad | Paired dark blotches, loud rapid chirping call |
| Northern Cricket Frog | Tree Frog | Smallest Nebraska frog, clicking cricket-like call |
| Northern Leopard Frog | True Frog | Rounded dark spots, prominent ridges down the back |
| Plains Leopard Frog | True Frog | White spot on the eardrum separates it from its cousin |
| Plains Spadefoot Toad | Spadefoot Toad | Vertical, cat-like pupils; heavy burrower |
| Western Chorus Frog | Tree Frog | Three dark stripes running down a tan back |
| Woodhouse’s Toad | True Toad | Pale stripe down the spine; tolerant of disturbed ground |
Pro Tip: Most Nebraska frogs and toads are easier to hear than to see. Visit a wetland or roadside ditch on a warm, humid evening after rain, when males call most actively to attract mates.
1. American Bullfrog
The American bullfrog (Lithobates catesbeianus) is the largest frog species found in Nebraska, and it only lives where water sticks around year-round. Permanent ponds, slow rivers, and reservoir edges give this frog the deep water it needs to overwinter and the open shoreline it needs to ambush prey. A record from Lincoln County’s amphibian survey shows how far west the species has established itself. Bullfrog Lithobates catesbeianus was last recorded in 2012.
Bullfrogs eat almost anything that fits in their mouth, including insects, smaller frogs, fish, and even small birds or snakes. Their call is a low, resonant “jug-o-rum” that carries well across open water on summer nights. Because bullfrogs are such effective predators, wildlife agencies in several states like North Carolina track their spread into waters where they were not historically found, and the species has also become an established invasive population in Hawaii far outside its native range.
2. American Toad
The American toad (Anaxyrus americanus) barely makes it into Nebraska at all. In Nebraska, the American toad reaches the western edge of its range and is restricted to the eastern most counties; they typically are only seen in Washington, Douglas and Sarpy counties. That narrow foothold is why Nebraska Game and Parks treats the species with extra attention. This species is listed as a species in need of conservation in Nebraska due to its limited distribution in the state.
Listen for the call and you’ll know the species instantly. The voice of the American toad is a long, musical trill that lasts about 30 seconds. Researchers with the Nebraska Herpetofaunal Atlas note that this toad favors riparian woodlands along the Missouri River. In Nebraska the American Toad inhabits riparian woodlands and deciduous forests associated with the Missouri River, and heavily canopied lowland forests and hillsides with permanent to semi-permanent marshes or ponds in the vicinity are preferred habitats. The same researchers found it readily interbreeds with the state’s other common toad. It is known to hybridize with Woodhouse’s Toads in Nebraska in areas where their ranges overlap. Farther east, closely related toad populations also anchor amphibian communities in states like Maine, where cold-hardy toads dominate the same forest-edge niche.
3. Cope’s Gray Tree Frog
Cope’s gray tree frog (Hyla chrysoscelis) is the only Nebraska frog built to climb. Of the state’s three hylid species, researchers note that only this one is truly arboreal, which explains why it shows up clinging to tree bark, fence posts, and even window screens near wooded wetlands. Three species of tree frogs are found in Nebraska, and these are not so easily recognized because only one species is arboreal, the other two being terrestrial or aquatic.
This frog can shift its skin tone between gray, green, and brown within minutes to match whatever surface it’s resting on, a trick that helps it disappear against bark or lichen. Its mating call is a short, musical trill, quite different from the toad calls heard in the same wetlands. Tree frog communities with a similar mix of climbing and ground-dwelling species also turn up in wooded areas of Pennsylvania, where habitat and calling behavior follow comparable seasonal patterns.
4. Great Plains Narrow-Mouthed Toad
The Great Plains narrow-mouthed toad (Gastrophryne olivacea) is Nebraska’s only member of the narrow-mouthed toad family, and it looks nothing like a typical toad. A single narrowmouth toad occurs in Nebraska, and it is distinctive in having a small, pointed head and a fold of skin across the posterior end of the head. That skin fold functions almost like a built-in bib, letting the toad close its mouth tightly while it feeds on ants and termites.
Because its range in Nebraska sits at the edge of a much larger distribution, the species is small and secretive enough that most people never notice it even where it’s common. It spends most of its life hidden under rocks, logs, or loose soil, emerging mainly to feed or breed after rain. The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission lists this species among the amphibians with regulated take under state wildlife rules. The regulation applies to the Great Plains Narrowmouth Toad, scientifically identified as Gastrophryne olivacea. The same genus shows up well south of Nebraska too, including populations documented in Oklahoma.
5. Great Plains Toad
The Great Plains toad (Anaxyrus cognatus) was long classified under a different scientific name. Its scientific name is Anaxyrus cognatus, though its former scientific name was Bufo cognatus. You might wonder how big this toad actually gets: it can grow anywhere between 5.1 and 11.4 cm, or roughly 2 to 4.5 inches, in length. The toad is grey, brown, and green in color, with darker colored blotching across its back.
This species is built for grassland life. Great Plains toads burrow underground about 15 to 55 cm during hot and dry weather and burrow below the frostline during late summer and fall for hibernation. They wait out dry spells underground, then emerge en masse once heavy rain soaks the soil. Its mating call is a very loud, harsh chirping noise repeated many times, very fast. Nebraska’s shortgrass and mixed-grass prairie provides exactly the loose, easily worked soil this toad depends on, the same type of habitat covered in our broader look at grassland frog species. Populations with this same burrowing lifestyle also extend west into Arizona’s desert grasslands.
Key Insight: Burrowing is a survival strategy, not a hiding game. Great Plains toads and plains spadefoot toads both retreat underground for months at a time to escape heat, cold, and drought, only surfacing when conditions favor breeding.
6. Northern Cricket Frog
The Northern cricket frog (Acris crepitans) is the smallest frog native to Nebraska, rarely reaching more than an inch in length. Its coloring runs from reddish-brown to cream or olive green, and a dark triangle marking between the eyes helps separate it from similar small frogs. This frog has fully webbed hind feet, a warty appearance on its back, and a color that is normally reddish-brown to cream or olive green, with a dark triangle shape occurring between the eyes on the head.
Important Note: Some Nebraska field guides and state records list this species as Blanchard’s cricket frog (Acris blanchardi) rather than the Northern cricket frog (Acris crepitans). Taxonomists have debated whether the two represent separate species or regional populations of the same frog, so you may see either name used for Nebraska’s cricket frogs depending on the source.
Despite its name, this frog is more aquatic than musical trivia suggests, spending most of its time at the water’s edge rather than hopping far inland. Its call resembles two pebbles clicking together, repeated in a rapid, irregular rhythm along the shorelines of ponds and slow streams. Similar small, water-edge frog populations are also tracked in wetland habitats across Connecticut.
7. Northern Leopard Frog
The Northern leopard frog (Lithobates pipiens) belongs to the true frog family, a group defined by powerful swimming legs and nearly complete webbing between the toes. Three species of true frogs occur in Nebraska, and these animals have nearly full webbed hind feet. Dark, rounded spots ringed in lighter color cover its green to brown back, giving the species its name.
Unlike many Nebraska amphibians that stay close to water year-round, this frog wanders well away from ponds once breeding season ends. It forages through wet meadows, hayfields, and grassy areas near stock tanks, often turning up far from the nearest permanent water. Populations with a similar wandering habit are also documented in cooler, higher-elevation states such as Idaho, where the species occupies a comparable mix of wetland and upland habitat.
8. Plains Leopard Frog
The Plains leopard frog (Lithobates blairi) looks enough like the Northern leopard frog to cause real confusion in the field, which is exactly why Nebraska wildlife biologists point to one specific feature for telling them apart. The eardrum, or tympanum, usually carries a distinct white spot at its center on this species, a mark the Northern leopard frog lacks. Tan to grayish-brown coloring with dark, rounded spots and a dorsolateral fold that breaks into smaller lines toward the legs rounds out the identification picture.
This species tends to favor slightly drier upland habitat than its northern cousin, moving into grasslands and agricultural fields outside the breeding season. Both leopard frog species overlap across much of central and southern Nebraska, so patience and a close look at the eardrum markings are often the only reliable way to separate them in the field.
9. Plains Spadefoot Toad
The plains spadefoot toad (Spea bombifrons) has one feature no other Nebraska frog or toad shares: vertical, cat-like pupils. One species of spadefoot toad occurs widely in Nebraska, and these animals have vertical pupils, unlike any other Plains frog or toad. A hardened, spade-shaped projection on each hind foot gives the species its name and lets it dig backward into sandy or loose soil with surprising speed.
Records from western Nebraska confirm how widely this toad ranges across the state’s drier terrain. Plains Spadefoot was last recorded in 2013 in Lincoln County. Like the Great Plains toad, this species can spend most of the year buried underground, surfacing almost entirely in response to heavy rainfall that triggers short, intense breeding bursts in temporary pools.
10. Western Chorus Frog
The Western chorus frog (Pseudacris triseriata) is a tiny, big-voiced frog that announces spring across much of Nebraska weeks before most other species start calling. Western chorus frog, listed under the scientific name Pseudacris triseriata, is among the eleven native frog and toad species of Nebraska. Three dark stripes running down its tan or gray back give the species its common name, though the stripes can be faint or broken on some individuals.
Important Note: Several regional field guides and iNaturalist records list a close relative, the Boreal chorus frog (Pseudacris maculata), alongside or in place of the Western chorus frog in parts of Nebraska. The two were once considered the same species, so naming can vary depending on which taxonomy a given source follows.
Its call sounds like a fingernail dragged slowly across the teeth of a plastic comb, a sound that fills wet ditches, flooded fields, and woodland ponds on the first warm nights of the year. Because it breeds so early, this frog often finishes calling before many other Nebraska species have even emerged from winter dormancy. Chorus frog populations with similarly early breeding calls also show up across the wetlands of South Carolina, though the regional species differ.
11. Woodhouse’s Toad
Woodhouse’s toad (Anaxyrus woodhousii) is one of Nebraska’s most adaptable amphibians, turning up in prairies, river bottoms, irrigated farmland, and even suburban yards. A pale stripe running down the center of its back, paired with warty, olive-brown skin, makes it reasonably easy to pick out once you know what to look for. The species tolerates disturbed and developed land far better than most Nebraska frogs, which helps explain why it’s one of the more commonly encountered toads statewide.
Woodhouse’s toad shares territory, and occasionally offspring, with the American toad in eastern Nebraska. It is known to hybridize with Woodhouse’s Toads in Nebraska in areas where their ranges overlap. That overlap zone along the Missouri River is one of the few places in the state where you can reliably find both species calling from the same wetland on a given night. The species’ tolerance for varied terrain also carries it into drier western states, including desert-edge populations found in parts of California.
Eleven species, five families, and habitats ranging from eastern river bottoms to western shortgrass prairie make Nebraska a surprisingly rewarding state for anyone interested in amphibians. Many of these species are easiest to identify by ear rather than by sight, so a warm, rainy evening near any wetland is usually your best opportunity. A few practical habits will improve your odds considerably:
- Visit wetlands within an hour of sunset during or right after a warm spring rain, when calling activity peaks.
- Carry a small flashlight with a red filter, which disturbs calling frogs far less than white light.
- Learn two or three calls at a time rather than trying to memorize all 11 species at once.
- Check field marks like dorsolateral folds, eardrum spots, and pupil shape up close before releasing any frog you handle.
For a broader sense of how Nebraska’s amphibian community compares to other regions, our guides to frog diversity worldwide and how many frog species exist globally put the state’s 11 natives into a much larger context. And since frogs share the same wetlands with plenty of other Nebraska wildlife, it’s worth checking out which dove species call the state home as well.