As soon as the ground thaws, the spring peepers come out. These are the little brown and gray tree frogs that celebrate the arrival of spring with their chorus of song.
The spring nights just now are a continuous stream of their peeping. Each frog, with a vocal sac like a balloon at the base of the neck, peeps twice: once as the air fills the sac, and once as the air is pressed back out. It makes for a chanting, repetitive stream of sound -- one that my Mother, newly arrived in the Canadian north from England, thought must be produced by machinery. She finally asked her fiance, Paul, who was operating a sawmill at night?
She has a point. It's hard to credit the sound of the noise with the size of these tiny frogs. In fact, you'll be lucky if you ever see one of them.
You're more likely to find their larger cousins -- and the two photos of the green frogs were taken by Quinn, our favourite young Naturalist.
All the same, frog song is a crucial part of the Muskoka spring, and we're always delighted to hear it!
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