Inflate and mate !
 
Frogs make noise to show off and attract a mate.  The sound of the pond is a six-month symphony that starts with a single peep in late March, rises to a raucous racket in April and May, and settles down to the glunks and moans of the green frogs and bullfrogs in late summer. 

This year the first sounds started about two weeks earlier than usual for this pond.

To play the sound, click on the triangle "play" button


Night 1:  First peeper
March 19
 
  

    In 2010, everything is happening  two weeks earlier than usual.
    Here is the opening PEEP of the pond, on March 19.

    (Birders will notice the "peent" of a woodcock off to the left, in a nearby field.  Near the end of the clip, you can hear the 
    churtle of the woodcock taking off for its big circular display flight around the perimeter of the field.  It's spring, and
    courtship is everywhere!)

    Peepers are night-time noisemakers.  When darkness falls, they tune up and go crazy.



Night 2:  A few more peepers, plus wood frogs galore!
March 20 - 42 degrees (5 C)

(Peepers peep, wood frogs quack)

Wood frogs float at the pond surface with their legs hanging loose and their face peeking up above the water.  They inflate their side-panels to power that quackle sound (see page header above) and do the frog-kick from one place to another.

They make noise both day and night, but the first time you hear them is usually at night.  In 2010 it was the night of March 19, the same night as the first peepers.

   Wood frog in typical pose