Lake Life Critters + Crawlers
Critters + Crawlers
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Spring Peepers by Adrienne Funderburg
Those living near lakes, ponds or wetlands likely hear the season of spring as much as it is seen. Frogs and toads make up much of the chorus, yet none announce the season more emphatically than spring peepers. From March to June, the spring peepers’ high-pitched calls echo from temporary woodland waters, called vernal pools, where they meet to mate and lay eggs. Their collective voices are reminiscent of a plethora of tiny toy car alarms in high-pitched ‘beeps,’ a fleet of squeakywheeled shopping carts or the very top range of a slide-whistle. Maybe these sounds aren’t typically associated with ‘springtime,’ but take an evening walk near a pond or wetlands, and their persistent peeping might make you notice otherwise. These tiny locals fit well into our ecosystem around the lakes. They eat insects of all kinds, controlling the populations of whatever bugs fit into their mouths. They are also the prey
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LakeLife Magazine April 2020
Spring peepers are hard to find, but easy to recognize. Their most prominent features: • Paperclip size, or smaller • Tan, brown, olive, or reddish color which camouflages them against leaves and logs
of other native species, feeding birds, salamanders, snakes and carnivorous insects that can’t fit into the peepers’ mouths. The spring peeper is small but mighty; a herald of spring and champion of the wet, low-lying areas common to lake communities. Lake life affords the unique opportunity to hear and see these tiny amphibian neighbors as we welcome the warmth and color of spring.
• Smooth, damp skin • Dark “X” pattern across their back
Adrienne Funderburg is the research program specialist at the Lilly Center for Lakes & Streams, an enthusiast of all Indiana wildlife, but especially amphibians.
