Spring Peepers
Listen for Spring Peepers peeping in wet areas. They can be heard more than 1/2 mile away, which is a pretty impressive feat for an animal that's only one-inch long.
A recent USA Today article likened their powerful peeping to a booming drum: a resonating cavity amplifies sound. The spring peeper bellows his 'peep' using a sac under his chin. He closes his nose and mouth, squeezes his lungs, and blows up his sac. The squeezed air flows over the vocal cords and into a closed system of chambers, including his mouth. The sac beneath his chin balloons out and radiates the call from his vocal cords into the world.
On a spring evening and through the night, male frogs perch on sedges and grasses near a pond and sing for mates. Each defends a small bit of turf about 4 to 16 inches in diameter. Females listen and choose. A female usually likes a fast-calling rate. Once decided, she swims near the chosen one's territory and finally touches the male as if to say "not another peep out of you tonight, mister."
WPC's protected Wattsburg Fens Natural Area in Erie County offers a good place to see and hear spring peepers.
Photo
by John White.
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