As the evening sun sets, the frogs gather and call, sometimes all night long, to attract a mate and breed in the abundance of water that spring run-off can provide. The males inflating their vocal sacs -- which helps to amplify their call -- with all the air capacity in their bodies to utter a continuous stream of calling. With each call in the sequence being a few seconds of a sound similar to pulling your fingers slowly down the spines of a fine-tooth comb. A long sort of clicky “preeeep” sound. Males call, trying to be louder and more attractive to the females amongst the group. When breeding occurs, females will deposit upwards of 1,000 eggs in small and different bundles. Not putting all their eggs in “one basket,” so to speak. They deposit these vulnerable gelatinous groups eggs on submerged vegetation or debris. The tadpoles develop quickly and are free-swimming in less than a week in most cases. Their first meal is usually the egg from which they just hatched -- after which, they can freely swim and feed on bits of aquatic vegetation primarily among invertebrates that they are able to catch. In several weeks to a few months, these tadpoles will begin the incredible metamorphose process of becoming an adult frog.

While western chorus frogs are technically not a spring peeper, a name reserved for a specific species of frog, the term “spring peeper” is commonly used to refer to these early amphibian callers of spring. The western chorus frog has a long and early breeding season here in the southwest. They often begin their mating calling and assemblages when there is still snow on the ground and ice on the water. I have personally heard them calling as early as January in the high country with over a foot of snow on the ground. However, the height of their breeding falls usually sometime between March and May. We are currently amidst the middle of this and their calls can be heard all around town -- and the surrounding forest -- in different bodies of water which are plentiful this year. While most of the activity occurs in the dusk and nighttime, in the heat of it, they will be heard calling both day and night.

This is the time of year I enjoy for the fact that I can, on some nights, sleep with open windows after a cold winter. With the open windows, I can hear the cacophony of chorus frogs reminding me of spring and summer coming ahead. One of the many environmental indicators that are fun to watch with the shifting of the seasons. Next time you are outside near some water, see if you can hear the calls of the western chorus frog.