When we first saw this frog its back was uniformly light colored. It hopped a couple of times and then rested. Five minutes later it had developed the dark spots on its back, which helped its camouflage.

My friend John McCaffrey spotted this tiny froglet, still half-tadpole, as it hopped across the rocky substrate of Oak Creek Canyon.

On a hot August morning, the remaining pools of water in Sabino Creek were swarming with treefrog tadpoles and metamorphs. The surrounding granite boulders were festooned with their adult counterparts.