Peepers!

Last night well after sunset I drove Anna and some friends to Falmouth. Suddenly from the dark roadside the sirens of spring peepers filled our ears. My first of the season!

"Peepers!" I cried out, at the same time as one or two other voices in the car. I slowed the car, and we put the windows down to take in the sound. It was a small pond that must have been chock full of peepers (and a few croakers among them), as the sound was so loud it made my ears throb. I wondered how the nearest residents could sleep on spring nights. 

According to wikipedia, their Latin name is Pseudacris crucifer, the "crucifer"(meaning cross-bearer) because many peepers have a dark, x-shaped cross on their backs. (How fitting that I happened to hear these on Good Friday!) Wiki also tells me that the typical peeper is .75 to 1 inch long. Only the males sing the piercing siren songs, to attract females of course, and not a few human beings as well.

After leaving Anna and friends at their destination, I drove back to the pond,  pulled the car over and sat for a while with the windows down, just to soak it in (so to speak). Welcome, spring!