The warm temperatures this weekend brought the beautiful tree frog known as the Spring Peeper out of hibernation and into its annual mating ritual. Although a frog of the woods, they mate in any shallow water in the early spring. They are the first amphibians to emerge from hibernation each year, and have a unique feature that allows them to partially freeze and not die during this early season. You can hear them “peeping” by the hundreds around any wet area from mid March thru Late April throughout Rockland County. It is amazing that such a tiny creature can make a noise that can be heard up to two miles away just by puffing out their throat.
I was fascinated by Spring Peepers as a child. Their tiny size, suction cup toes, ability to climb trees, walls, and glass, plus the fact that they are almost never seen fueled that interest. Many a Spring night was spent out with a flashlight seeking a rare view of such an interesting frog by zeroing in on the peeping noise. It’s not as easy as it sounds as the noise is very hard to localize, and if you get too close, they go silent. Try a little “peeper” stalking in the next two weeks and catch a glimpse of wild kingdom which is seen by very few.