You Know It's Spring When....

... you see robins in the yard, of course. But even better, for me, is when the spring peepers start calling. These teeny tiny frogs are chorus frogs and are found all over the Eastern United States and even up into Canada. They live in marshy areas, wherever there's some standing water... ponds, swamps, wet woodlands, pools of standing rainwater... and around the middle of March, they start singing! (Photo here is from Wikipedia.)

I heard them for the first time last Thursday, after we'd had some rain, as I drove to a friend's house in the late afternoon. There's a creek running alongside the road, and if you open your car window, you know they're there! These wonderful little creatures love that wet area and sing to their heart's content... and to mine too! And when I walked the dogs down through the woods towards another creek which runs into the Dan River, I heard the tree frogs again, in all their springtime glory! These little guys are really small... often just under an inch, but they can grow to an inch and a half. Here's a graphic I found on the web that shows their relative size, compared to a paper clip!

Around here, you won't hear them during the day; they, like many frogs, are nocturnal, only coming out to sing when the sky grows dark. At night they also feast on beetles, spiders, flies, and ants. During they day, they stay hidden away from sight and predators. They can climb in trees with their large toe pads, but they usually stay on the damp ground, living in the loose undergrowth. They breed and lay their eggs in the water, and if they're lucky, they can live about three years in the woodland edges. It is only the males that sing, an amorous high-pitched call to the females... and baby, are they loud! I guess that "you know you want me" instinct is really strong! They usually congregate in the hundreds, so it's hard and unusual to hear just one spring peeper; you hear them in a loud chorus song. It's amazing! Take a look at the video to hear them singing!