Is there any other sound that is more diagnostic of spring? The aptly named spring peeper (Pseudacris crucifer) is a small chorus frog that is common and widespread throughout the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. As daylight lengthens and spring temperatures increase, this shy little anuran begins its annual springtime serenade.

Spring peeper frog perched on a small brand in a forest on a spring night.

Pseudacris crucifer (Spring Peeper) (Photo credit: Jim Kauffman).

Easier heard than seen, the males sing from woody riparian vegetation after dark, hoping to impress a female. Each year in early spring the peepers gather in their scrub-shrub wetlands and serenade us with a deafening chorus of high-pitched calls. Peepers are a sign of intact, healthy wetlands, and (in many regions) are the first frogs to begin their annual mating rituals. We can hear them in the evenings after warm spring days or as we drive past their wetland haunts on a country backroad. Their combined chorus can reach 90 decibels, which is truly deafening! Hearing these critters is a sure sign that spring has sprung!

If you see something blooming, leafing out, ripening, or otherwise changing in your woods, send us photos (forestsforthebay@gmail.com) to include in next month’s Forests for the Bay newsletter for more phenological fun!