Pine Barrens Tree Frog (Hyla andersonii)

Pine Barrens Tree Frog (Amphibians and Reptiles of North Carolina)
Named for the New Jersey Pine Barrens, the Pine Barrens treefrog is considered by some to be the most beautiful frog in the United States. They are nocturnal and seldom seen, presumably spending their time in shrubs and trees. Most sightings occur during their breeding season. Breeding habitats include Carolina bays, pocosins, spring-fed pools and bogs adjacent to pine forests.

Pine Barrens Tree Frog (Encyclopedia of Alabama)
Populations of this frog are predicted to decline over the next several decades because of habitat loss and other factors. A significant threat to the pine barren tree frog’s habitat is fire suppression. Human settlement has greatly reduced the incidences of forest fires because of the danger to people and their property. As a result, the frog’s habitat has shifted from mostly pines and its understory plants to hardwood forests with different, and often invasive, understory plants and fewer seepage bogs and ephemeral wetlands for breeding.

Pine Barren Tree Frog Calling (YouTube video North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission)
Pine Barrens treefrogs call from April to September. Males call from the ground or from shrubs or other vegetation near the water’s surface. Their call, which sounds like a nasal “honk” or “quonk,” is quickly repeated 10 to 20 times at infrequent intervals.

Pine Barrens Tree Frog species profile (Savannah River Ecology Laboratory Herpetology Program)
The North American range of the species is limited to three disjunct populations in New Jersey, the Sandhills of northern South Carolina and southern North Carolina, and the Florida panhandle. The primary habitat of this species includes swamps, bogs, Carolina Bays, and pocosins of the Pine Barrens and Sandhills.

Pine Barrens Treefrog (South Carolina Wildlife Federation)
These frogs prefer acidic wetlands and are found in the shrubbery around seepage bogs on the downslopes of the sandhills.  Other frog species cannot tolerate the acidity levels that the pine barrens treefrog prefers, so they do not have a lot of competition.  Their coloration makes them virtually invisible when they are sitting in their native habitat.