Sounds of Spring - Spring Peepers

We spent the past week in the Traverse City area.  When we pulled up to our hotel on Friday night we immediately noticed a familiar sound.  The area behind the hotel is basically a shrub swamp and this weekend that swamp was hosting dozens of male Spring Peepers (Pseudacris crucifer) each hoping to attract a mate with his peep peep peep calls.  The louder and more frequently a frog call, the better his chances of attracting a mate.  There was also at least one Western Chorus Frog (Pseudacris triseriata) that periodically adds his voice.

It didn't happen while I was recording, but at one point a storm passed through with a loud crack of thunder.  Every single frog, which to that point had been vociferously calling, immediately went silent.  The effect was enough to make me chuckle.

The sounds of Spring - Wood Frogs

Last week I posted a short video from a local wetland area.  The video itself wasn't anything special; I was mainly trying to record the sounds of a local wetland.  The star of that video was a group of Western Chorus Frogs (Pseudacris triseriata), but in the background of the video you could hear the breeding calls of Wood Frogs (Lithobates sylvaticus).

Yesterday, Shara and I went out to Forest Hill Nature Area to walk the trails.  As we approached the North Woods we could hear Wood Frogs calling from several of the vernal pond scattered throughout the woods.  I took the opportunity to record another video.  Again this video should really be treated as a sound recording, the picture is definitely secondary.

The primary sound in this video is the "quacking" sound from the Wood Frogs.  There are also periodic bird calls and the sound of wind blowing over the microphone on my camera.

Enjoy.

The sounds of Spring

My camera has a video function that I rarely use, but yesterday I could not resist.  Nevermind the video itself (I was standing in a thicket surrounded willows and Indian Hemp).  What I really wanted to record was the sound.  The overlying sound is the call of Western Chorus Frogs (Pseudacris triseriata).  Periodically you hear a male Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus) add his voice.  Deep in the background are the duck-like calls of Wood Frogs (Lithobates sylvaticus).

Enjoy.
 

Froggie went a courtin'

On Sunday I stopped at Mill Pond Park to collect pond water for a program.  Around the edge of the pond I could hear a number of Green Frogs (Lithobates clamitans) calling loudly.  In time I located one nearby that let me approach within camera range.  The frog looks inflated like a ballon in this picture - its lungs are inflated with air.  To call this air is passed from the lungs to one or more flexible organs in its throat known as vocal sacs.

Green Frog - inflated with air and ready to call

When a Green Frog calls it produces a series of single notes that sound like someone plucking the same string of an out-of-tune guitar over and over again - "plunk plunk plunk".  In the photo below you can see that the frog has inflated his vocal sacs and is calling.  If you look closely, you can actually see the sound wave traveling across the surface of the water.  Look along the frog's side and in the dark water at the bottom right of the photo for a series of concentric lines traveling away from the frog. 

Calling Green Frog - note the sound waves on the water's surface

Nature is pretty awesome!