Warm Weather Means Early Mating Season For Spring Peeper Frogs
BEVERLY SHORES, Ind. (CBS) -- You've probably been reminded multiple times that it's still technically winter, but spring clearly is not waiting for the calendar. Even tiny frogs know it.
As WBBM Newsradio's Mike Krauser reports, after a winter that barely even happened, the signs of spring are everywhere.
All kinds of vegetation are sprouting in the ground. In the air, migratory birds are in flight, and in the swamp, the frogs are making a racket that usually conjures images of much later in the season.
The frogs – spring peepers – are found along the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore in Beverly Shores, Ind.
The Northern spring peeper (Pseudacris crucifer) is a tiny frog – usually no more than 1.5 inches long – but they make up for their size with a characteristic high-pitch noise that the males of the species make to attract mates.
The frogs are usually harbingers of spring, as they typically mate in late April or early May, according to NatureNorth.com. But much like spring itself, mating season has come early for the spring peepers.
LISTEN: WBBM Newsradio's Mike Krauser reports
