• Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to secondary sidebar

New York Almanack

History, Natural History & the Arts

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • Adirondacks & NNY
  • Capital-Saratoga
  • Mohawk Valley
  • Hudson Valley & Catskills
  • NYC & Long Island
  • Western NY
  • History
  • Nature & Environment
  • Arts & Culture
  • Outdoor Recreation
  • Food & Farms
  • Subscribe
  • Support
  • Submit
  • About
  • New Books
  • Events
  • Podcasts

What’s That Sound? Fall Peepers

September 23, 2020 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

tos peepersWe like to think that everything in nature has its own particular time and place. But nature is fond of throwing us curves. As a naturalist, a common question I’m asked during foliage season is, “why are spring peepers calling in my woods at this time of year?”

Even ardent students of nature can be stumped by the plaintive, autumnal notes of peepers; sounds that we easily recognize in the spring can seem alien when they appear out of context. Jim Andrews, Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Rubenstein School at the University of Vermont, and Vermont’s go-to expert on all things herpetological, described how autumn peepers have fooled birders. “They were trying to locate the birds that made these noises in the fall, of course, with no success.”

After taking a quiet summer respite, some peepers again find their voice. Their solitary songs resonate from the deep woods, intermingled with the chirps of crickets. Fall peepers can be heard from about late July until well after the leaves have fallen.

“They were calling on December 24th , 2015 at my home in Salisbury,” said Andrews, “and were reported calling on the same date from six other towns in Vermont. They appeared to be calling from under the leaf litter.”

This isn’t the only time he has heard peepers, and other frogs, out of season. “On November 25, 2004, I heard a chorus of peepers. This did not fit the pattern of fall calling at all, since it was an entire chorus and the frogs were all located near a potential breeding site.” He has also heard, on a few occasions, northern leopard frogs calling softly from along the edges of their overwintering spots in the fall, and wood frogs calling from the leaf litter in November.

There are several schools of thought as to why peepers and other frogs sing in the fall. One hypothesis: the shorter day length and steeper angle of the sun create conditions of natural light that are similar to those that occur during the vernal mating season. When a stretch of autumn weather arrives that is warm and wet enough for frogs to become active, some of them respond with song to these spring-like environmental cues.

Another theory is that the singing is prompted by physiological changes that occur in autumn. “I think it is primarily this, or possibly both combined,” said Andrews. “[Peepers] need to be physiologically prepared for calling and breeding in the spring as soon as they thaw out. If you consider that their body temps may be below freezing when they are in the leaf litter during the winter, they are essentially in cold storage. They have to be ready to breed when they enter the leaf litter. As far as their bodies are concerned, they are only minutes away from breeding when they shut down in the fall.”

In this heightened state, some frogs begin to sing. Research into the reproduction of the spring peeper, which was published in Herpetologica, reveals that although ovulation won’t occur until spring arrives, the stage is indeed set in autumn for the next mating season. Male sex organs develop from late June through early September. By the time peepers are ready to hibernate, their sperm has matured. Autumn females have already formed eggs for the next breeding season; these are nearly two thirds the size they will ultimately become in the springtime.

Despite the singing, peepers and other fall singers don’t actually mate in autumn. Their calls are just a tease. The real mating dance must wait until spring is really here and warm weather returns in earnest to nurture the next generation of eggs and tadpoles.

Michael J. Caduto is an author, ecologist, and storyteller who lives in Reading, Vermont. The illustration for this column was drawn by Adelaide Tyrol. The Outside Story is assigned and edited by Northern Woodlands magazine, and sponsored by the Wellborn Ecology Fund of New Hampshire Charitable Foundation.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Capital-Saratoga, Hudson Valley - Catskills, Mohawk Valley, Nature, New York City, Western NY Tagged With: amphibians, frogs, nature, wetlands, Wildlife

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Support Our 2022 Fundraising

Subscribe to New York Almanack

Subscribe! Follow the New York Almanack each day via E-mail, RSS, Twitter or Facebook updates.

Recent Comments

  • Jane Aiken on Saratoga Spa in 1935: A State Health Resort Opens
  • Sue on Poetry: Cabin Pantry Discovery
  • Ronald Gary Grove on The Misnamed Columbia County ‘Battle of Egremont’
  • Bob Meyer on Poetry: Cabin Pantry Discovery
  • Raphael Riljk on The Sinking of the S.S. Normandie at NYC’s Pier 88
  • Christian on Orange County Man Ticketed After Killing Rattlesnake
  • ABSS314 on Orange County Man Ticketed After Killing Rattlesnake
  • Evan Barnett on Catskills Resort History: The Beginning of the End
  • Evan Barnett on Catskills Resort History: The Beginning of the End
  • Eva Barnett on Catskills Resort History: The Beginning of the End

Recent New York Books

John Bradstreet's, 1758: A Riverine Operation of the French and Indian War
The Jewish World of Alexander Hamilton
vintage babes of broadway book
Mission Begin With Blood
Special Delivery book
killing time in the catskills
the soft city book
occupied america
stewards of the water
off the northway

Secondary Sidebar

preservation league
Protect the Adirondacks Hiking Guide