Ever since Mother Nature gave central Missouri a shot of winter temperatures in January — dipping the mercury below zero for a couple of days — conversation around water coolers and in local coffee shops has centered on spring.
Alas, the advent of spring is a short 13 days away. Tuesday, March 19, marks the vernal equinox (when day and night are equal in length), bringing the season of rebirth in the Northern Hemisphere.
Daffodils, not known for waiting until spring officially arrives, are already blooming in yards.
The surest sign that springtime is just around the corner is the sound of Spring Peepers. Folklore says that the Spring Peepers must be shut up three times before spring officially arrives.
Every year — starting at the end of February — my wife drags me onto our deck each night to listen for peepers.
I usually deny being able to hear them.
When Connie was a teacher, I could understand her enthusiasm. The sound of Spring Peepers in the evening equals the start of spring; spring means the end of the school year is near; the end of school, for a teacher, means summer vacation.
My wife has been retired from teaching for almost six years now. It’s still hard for Connie to understand that those of us not employed by a local school district don’t have summers off.
This is why we could never reside in a big city. Without the sound of the Spring Peepers I’m afraid Connie would become depressed during late February and early March.
The Spring Peeper is a small chorus frog that populates the eastern United States and Canada. Its western range is much of Missouri. You won’t hear them in Kansas, Nebraska, or most of Iowa and Oklahoma.
The little frogs prefer places with no fish. Behind our house — approximately 100 yards away — is a small unnamed stream with standing water, otherwise known as the town’s drainage ditch. That satisfies their need for water.
During drought, they have been found living in caves, where they can find moisture.
This tiny frog can survive temperatures that drop to 18 degrees Fahrenheit and freeze up to 70 percent of their bodies, causing their heart to stop. This is all due to the capacity of their livers to exude and flush the bloodstream with a glucose cryoprotectant, which acts both as an anti-freeze in their blood and allows organs like the heart to enter into a state of protected dormancy.
The Latin name for the Spring Peeper is Pseudacris crucifer. Crucifer is from a Latin root word meaning “cross-bearer,” which references a dark cross-like pattern on the Spring Peeper’s dorsal.
The chirping sounds we hear in the evenings sound like a baby chicken. That is why they are called peepers. Since they are one of the first frogs to emerge in the spring, they are called Spring Peepers.
The male fogs send out these signals to attract a mate. The females choose their mates from the frequency and volume of the males chirping. The peeps of these male flogs can be repeated up to 13,500 times in one evening.
This peeping sound can be up to 90 decibels and can be heard up to two miles away. For comparison, a power mower is about 107 decibels, and hearing loss may result from sustained exposure of 80-90 decibels.
Adult male Spring Peepers average one inch in length, with the females being slightly larger.
The female Spring Peeper can lay upwards of 1,000 eggs.
Interesting facts about the spring equinox: The first spring day does not fall on the same day every year. For most of the 20th century, the first day of spring arrived on March 21. That ended in 2007 for most of us. The next time the spring equinox will fall on March 21 is 2101. For the next three years, the spring equinox will arrive on March 20.
Another spring and fall equinox phenomenon is the sun rises due east and sets due west on this day.
Also, on the equinoxes, we have the fastest sunrises and sunsets on this day, meaning the amount of time it takes for the sun to sink below the horizon.
Another plant currently poking up through the ground is the green leaves of the Surprise Lilies, also known as Naked Ladies. Their blooms in early August had the opposite effect on Connie. She would become depressed as these blooms signify that summer vacation for teachers is almost over and the start of school is just around the corner.
