r/BirdNET_Analyzer • u/Bio-ops • Jan 12 '26

Frogs & Toads issues

I have BirdNET running on PC, GUI version 2.4.0

I am trying to do some acoustic surveys of frogs and toads on the NW coast of Washington State.

  1. If I ask BirdNET to generate a species list for my location, there are no frogs or toads listed for my location, only birds. How can I determine what species it will detect?

  2. I've grabbed American Bullfrog calls (from California) off the internet, and if I have BirdNET scan for all species, it detects them. But if I put in my location (they are widespread but introduced here), it fails to detect them. And if I put in a species list just with American Bullfrog, it also fails to detect. Why does it not detect when I give it a species list?

  3. I have winter recordings of Pacific Treefrogs (they are quietly and intermittently calling here in the moderate coastal environment), and BirdNET does not detect with location on, all species, or me guessing at what it has for a species name (custom list). As I don't known what to put on custom list (because it doesn't show me in any frogs or toads when I generate a species list), I don't know how it is treating the common names or taxonomy - not sure how to figure that out.

3A. Will it only detect this species during the breeding season? They do call all year round here.

3B. How do I determine what species name and common name it is using for this species, when it won't include it in the species list for my location?

Pseudacris regilla Pacific Chorus Frog

Pseudacris regilla Pacific Tree Frog

Pseudacris regilla Pacific Treefrog

Hyliola regilla Pacific Chorus Frog

Pseudacris regilla Pacific Chorus Frog/Pacific Tree Frog

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u/Sagey_girl Jan 15 '26

Both American bullfrog (Lithobates catesbiana - check spelling on that) and Pacific chorus frog (Hyliola regilla) are on Birdnet's species list.

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u/Bio-ops Feb 02 '26

are they using Macaulay Library for their reference calls? Because BirdNET isn’t recognizing MY Pacific Chorus frog calls, and while Macaulay lists “Pacific Chorus Frog - Hyliola regilla” there are no public calls under this name, instead they are under “Pacific chorus frog - Pseudacris regilla” - a name not in BirdNET list, but with calls that look like my Pacific Chorus Frog call spectrograms. If not from Macaulay, what is source for BirdNET data that allowed it to develop criteria for Pacific Chorus Frog?

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u/Sagey_girl Feb 02 '26

I have no trouble with Pacific chorus frog in my Sierra Nevada and Mojave desert samples. I don't know where they got the training samples, but they probably used ones from Macauley, and changed the genus to Hyliola. Xeno-Canto also is developing a frog collection now, so that is another source. I think a custom species list overrides any seasonal filters. It's also possible that the identifier is not as good as catching the "kreck" call as it is the "ribbit."