Spring Peepers
By Gail Grenier Sweet ©2004
For years I listened, puzzled about the source of the sound. Every spring morning I heard it through my open window, sounding like birds or crickets — a chorus of loud, insistent chirping.
Someone told me the sound was “spring peepers.” I looked in a book. Turns out, spring peepers are green frogs so tiny they look like something rubber you’d get from a Milwaukee County Zoo vending machine.
When I hear them, I know winter is over: glory be! They herald spring but also chirp well into summer. Their voices have become my favorite spring sound and indeed my favorite of all sounds.
One day I snuck up on a marshy area brimming with peeping. I crept quietly but the minute I got close, the chorus abruptly halted. I’ve never seen a peeper in person.
Their shyness only makes their sound sweeter.
The End