Observations on post-breeding movements of radio-implanted green frogs (Rana clamitans) revealed that frogs made repetitive forays away from and back to breeding ponds before final migrations to overwintering sites away from the pond. We used a drift fence and radio-transmitters to test the hypothesis that these movements were related to preoverwintering foraging and not overwintering site selection. Movements were oriented directly to habitats away from the pond, the terrestrial habitats had more food than those closer to the pond edge, and frog mass increased during forays away from the pond but declined at the pond. Foray directions were not correlated with migration direction and were considerably shorter than migration distances to overwintering sites. An intense, late season, foraging period is probably necessary for the green frog to rebuild lipid reserves following breeding and to prepare for overwintering.