Southern leopard frogs are classic Florida pond frogs: long-legged, athletic and covered in irregular dark spots.

They are native across nearly all of Florida and are common around shallow freshwater, canals, ditches, floodplains and man-made ponds.

Two pale ridges running down the back are among the best identification clues.

The body can be green, tan or brown, with dark leopard-like blotches on the back and legs.

A visible round eardrum sits behind each eye, usually with a lighter spot in the center.

These frogs can spend part of the hotter season away from the water, but they return more consistently to ponds and wetlands during the cooler breeding season.

That makes fall and winter good times to start listening as well as looking.

Southern leopard frogs have a distinctive breeding call that can carry across shallow ponds at night.

Females lay large egg masses in water, and tadpoles develop in the same wetlands that support fish, insects, wading birds and other wildlife.

They are predators and prey at the same time.

Adults eat insects, crayfish and other small invertebrates, while the frogs themselves are eaten by snakes, birds, fish and mammals.

A healthy native frog population can be a useful indicator that a wetland or pond still supports a functioning food web.

Seeing a spotted frog around a drainage ditch does not mean it is an escaped exotic.

In Southwest Florida, a frog with dark spots, long legs and two light ridges down the back is very likely one of our native Southern leopard frogs.

The Wild Suncoast clue: leopard spots plus two pale back ridges are the combination to remember.