Putting the "Spring" in Spring Peepers

(Script by Francie Von Mertens)

Certain sounds help define a season, and for spring I cast a vote for the spring peeper chorus. And for most impressive songster? Why, the spring peeper male, of course. Not much bigger than my thumbnail but able to produce a very big sound for a very long time.

Like most wildlife species, these tiny frogs emerge from winter full bent on creating the next generation. Males migrate from woodland to nearby wetland, followed soon by females. The chorus begins modestly the first warm evenings in April, but soon works up to a pulsing, ringing crescendo as more males arrive and join in.

Males near one another take care not to overlap their calls. Older males are larger, emitting stronger, faster calls, and have more success attracting females. When another male comes too close, calls change from the familiar rising peep to a steady trill. Even in a frog congress of hundreds, a male defends territory.

A slower, longer trill indicates the approach of a female. After a female chooses a mate, she deposits some 800 eggs in shallow water while the male releases sperm to fertilize them. Her job done, the female emerges from water and wetland, and returns to her woodland home.

The male returns to his job as a member of the nocturnal frog chorus, available to mate again – and again, and again – on through May and sometimes into June.

One cautionary note: frogs and salamanders migrate on rainy spring nights. Countless numbers are flattened as they cross roads. So do take care, as best you can, if driving near wetlands when amphibians are on the march.