
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, March 17, 1991                   TAG: 9103150517
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: 5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: PATRICIA C. HELD
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

SILVER PIPING PEEPERS SIGNAL SPRING

We all have our own calendars for the seasons and look for special signs of spring. It can be the return of the osprey, the song of the red-winged blackbirds or the skunk cabbage's blossom. Although I too search for these signs, spring does not arrive for me until I hear the silver piping of the spring peepers.

Spring peepers are tiny creatures no larger than a thumbnail. These tree frogs are well suited to an arboreal existence. Peepers have tiny adhesive disks or suction cups on the end of their toes. These and their long limbs enable them to climb surefootedly among the foliage.

Peepers have an imperfect but unmistakable dark cross on their greenish brown backs. Their scientific name, hyla crucifer, means "cross-bearing frog." This irregular cross mark gives them excellent camouflage.

These woodland frogs seem most abundant in areas of brushy second growth or in cutover woodlots near small ponds. Each wet area has its quota of tiny singers.

It is hard to believe that peepers are capable of such earsplitting noise, considering their small size. Their chorus sounds like sleigh bells tinkling in the distance.

The cool temperature of late February and early March are perfect piping weather for these creatures of the night. Slowly, one by one, they awaken from their winter's hibernation. At first only an occasional individual tests its voice, but as the evenings become warmer hundreds of tiny voices join in, and the sound builds to a deafening peak.

As the frog peeps, it inflates an enormous bubble under its throat. Almost as large as the peeper itself, this bubble is a vocal sac which acts as a resonator.

Frogs use their nostrils to call, leaving their mouths closed. The sounds are produced by pumping air back and forth between the lungs over the vocal chords and into the mouth. From the mouth air passes through an opening and finds its way into a pocket formed by an extension of the mouth lining, thus forming a throat bubble.

A frog sings to attract a mate. The male peepers are the vocal ones, and the peeper females locate prospective mates by signaling in on their calls. Once they have located their mates, the females lay up to a thousand eggs. These are fertilized externally by the males.

By the end of May the breeding season is over, and the singing stops. Adults leave the water and spend the rest of the summer on land.

Within days of the adults' departure, the tadpoles hatch. They spend their days foraging for food among the aquatic vegetation.

Peeper polliwogs have many enemies, and most do not survive the summer. Water bugs, beetles, spiders and larger frogs all prey upon these tiny tadpoles.

The tadpoles' development is rapid. Before the end of the season their metamorphosis is complete.

The cool evenings of early fall are reminiscent of spring. Peepers will sometimes begin calling again, but not with the fervor of their spring singing. Only after a winter's sleep and the early spring rains will the peepers again announce a new spring season.

Patricia Held will respond to readers' questions on the plant and animal wildlife in the region. Mail inquiries to: Patricia C. Held, P.O. Box 65, Goode, Va. 24556.

by CNB