In addition to entertaining humans with their mating calls, spring peepers provide another benefit to us by feeding on flies, ants, beetles and other small insects that can be occasional (or frequent) pests for humans. The eggs hatch in three or four days and tadpoles metamorphose in about two months. They are fertilized by the males as they are laid.

The eggs are laid singly and are attached to leaves, grasses and sticks in shallow water. One female can lay up to 900 eggs, each egg about one millimeter in size. The end result of all this calling and courtship is egg-laying. It resides near ponds, streams or swamps where there is thick undergrowth. The spring peeper is primarily a woodland species. However, as previously stated, describing how they look is basically irrelevant because you’ll hear them far more often than you’ll see them. Spring peepers also feature a dark “X” marking on their backs. The general color of a spring peeper varies from pinkish to light tan, brown, or gray. As with a number of frogs and toads, spring peepers produce a type of “anti-freeze” in their blood that protects their tissues from damage if they become frozen. Spring peepers survive winter by digging into the soil. These calls are heard primarily at dusk and at night, although they can be heard on overcast days during a rain or immediately after one. As is the case with all wildlife mating calls in the spring, the more clear and robust the call, the better chances of attracting a female. A spring peeper’s vocal sac can inflate to about the size of a quarter.

The spring peeper makes this call by closing its mouth and nostrils and forcing air from the lungs over its vocal chords into the lower part of the mouth, which inflates into a bubble and vibrates like a drum. The most noticeable characteristic of this frog is the clear, high-pitched call male uses to attract females. Spring peepers grow only to slightly more than an inch in length most could fit comfortably on the end of your finger. These small frogs begin calling and breeding in early March (some years in late February) and continue until early May. The spring peeper is one of the Ozarks’ well-known end-of-winter signs because it is the earliest calling frog of spring. And, while frigid temperatures are still vividly in our memories, these small amphibians remind us spring is on its way. However, in early spring, a small frog begins spreading the message of seasonal change at a time many birds are still warming up their spring calls. Enjoying spring peepers is a listening experience, not a visual one.īird sounds are among the best-known harbingers of spring in the wildlife world.

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