We’ve been having typical March weather. A few warm days and then a few airish cold days to remind us it’s not quite time for true warm weather.
The other night Chitter and I heard the first spring peepers of the year. We were driving home from over in Martins Creek and just this side of the school we heard the chorus of frogs welcoming spring of the year.
Spring cheeper, spring peeper noun 1967 DARE spring cheeper = small frog that sings or chirps loudly in spring (Maryville, TN). 1984 Wilder You All Spoken 59 spring peeper = These noisy frogs erupting from the mud of hibernation are pinklewinks on Martha’s Vineyard and pinkwinks on Cape Cod. Most everywhere they are voices of Spring.
—Dictionary of Smoky Mountain English
I’ve heard the annual sound of the frogs my whole life, but never knew they were called spring cheeper or spring peepers till I started writing about Appalachia. We just called them frogs.
They put out an amazing sound. Driving down the road is when I notice them in early spring. It’s only for a few seconds as I pass by their home near a creek, branch, or just a miry damp place, but they fill the car with their sweet voices which sing of spring.
If you’ve never heard them before here’s a video I found showcasing their sound.
Last night’s video: Early Spring Chores.
Tipper
Subscribe for FREE and get a daily dose of Appalachia in your inbox
This was always the sign of spring that my mom and I used to listen for; it became a contest, almost, to see who heard them first. Those little critters are really loud when you are right down in the middle of them! Here in the last couple of years, though, it doesn’t seem like I have been hearing them like we used to in our area.
I love peepers. May be my favorite sound. I just heard them last weekend on a night when the sound was much needed. My ornery grandson (18 yo) received a ticket for running a stop sign and didn’t tell me about it (he lives with me). In typical teenage fashion he thought he could ignore it. As a result a deputy appeared at my house one evening and took him away in cuffs. I feared the boy was going to faint he was so scared. I quickly bailed him out and no harm was done. Needless to say, lesson well learned. I heard the peepers when I was going to pick him up from the jail. I was aggravated with the situation and ready to dish out a tongue lashing. But when I heard the familiar sound of the approach of spring all the stern words that had been bubbling up, melted away.
Last week I heard them here in SW Missouri. Storm moving through today, they went back to their hidey hole.
Well, we heard peepers some time ago but only in one night that I remember. Since you mention it, that is odd. We should have heard them many night by now. The chicken rancher across the road must have a pond out of sight in the head of the holler cause we usually hear them there. Can’t figure it.
Rebecca Harscher from Arizona
I am so happy that I found you and your family on You tube, I watch an hour of Celebrating Appalachia daily, some days I binge to catch up. I was raised in Arizona by a father from Iowa (Swedish and Irish ancestry) and a Mother from Alabama (German and English ancestry). Interesting recipes in our house, my Momma was a good cook and she could stretch a dollar like no other, a small 2 bedroom house with 4 children. Food is the main focus of most of my memories, all good things evolved around food. Whether it was biscuits and chocolate syrup for a special occasion or canned beef on bread with butter we ate simply and loved being around the kitchen table together. After we ate dinner my Daddy played his “git fiddle” as he called his guitar and we sang together. We did not have a TV until I was 9. I am now 74 and miss those days gone by. When I watch your show I feel them with me. God Bless you and yours. Thank you and your family for sharing your love and story with us all.
Rebecca-thank you! I’m so glad you enjoy what we do. Thank you for sharing a bit about your life 🙂
That sound always puts a smile on my face!!
At my Connecticut pond you can count on the spring peepers to start singing on St. Patrick’s Day.
The ‘choir’ of Nature is a beautiful thing to the ear….’peepers’ being just one of the voices. 🙂
I live very very close to Maryville. I live in Louisville Tn which is less that 10 min from Maryville.
Day before last I was about to pull in my driveway and I heard all the frogs in my pond and it made me so happy! So reading about that this morning was wonderful!
We’ll have lots and lots of them singing their song around here soon. And the occasional bullfrog!
I thought of this after my other comment, I think the one thing I am happiness to see in the spring is the dogwood trees blooming. They always make me think of the story, “The Legend Of The Dogwood Tree” and Jesus being put on the cross to die for me.
The peepers are still hibernating around my house, and I don’t blame them. It’s been a cold, rainy, and windy March. The forecast is for below-normal temperatures until the first week of April. My sister thinks peepers make a lonesome sound. I disagree as I can’t wait to hear them. I often leave my bedroom window open so they can sing me to sleep.
We have two ponds on our property so we hear the spring peepers very loudly. It’s almost deafening! But we really enjoy it. 🙂 Can’t wait to hear them start singing again.
It’s so exciting! Springs almost here!!!!
We heard the frogs yesterday up here in northwest Ohio !
I used to call them knee-deeps because it sounded like what they were saying. Listen to them some time and see if you don’t hear the same.
I’ve sorta given in to modernity and now mostly call them peep frogs.
The saying in the mountains of Western Maryland and Southwest Pennsylvania is, “The peepers have to look through glass three times until spring is here to stay.” I have heard this saying my whole life. My grandfather who farmed the same farm his entire life and the Amish around me go by this for planting. So you hear them for the first time and then temps have to go below freezing, hear then again after the first drop in temps and then temps have to go below freezing again , and finally hear them again after the second drop in temps and then the temps have to go below freezing for the third time. We have been waiting to hear them for the first time this year because it was been quite warm lately, but still nothing.
Not sure where but I do recall hearing peepers used to describe frogs as they sing.
We have a large stand of bamboo in our yard here in Appalachia Ohio. Every spring we have what has to be hundreds of birds who gather and use that bamboo as a resting place for a few weeks. I love watching them as they fly to the surrounding trees and then a few at a time fly into the bamboo. They are gossipy little creatures and make a huge racket as they catch up on the day before they settle in to rest. Once they are quiet we are able to hear the peepers singing their spring time song.
I have not paid any attention when I have been outside to see if I could hear spring peepers, frogs to me. Some of the trees, daffodils, wild onions, and other things are either blooming or budding out. I noticed it won’t be long until I will need to cut my grass, some spots need cutting now. Someone else mention frost, my Daddy always said there was always a possibility of having a frost until the wild blackberries begin to bloom. I heard a produce farmer say he didn’t feel safe until the pecan trees begin to bud or get those “hairy things” on them. We had a frost yesterday morning but a daytime high of 80 degrees. Thursday night’s temperature is forecast to be near freezing.
The chorus of peepers is loud at my house. Our back 2 acres are downhill and end at a small creek and the sound carries right back up the hill to our house. It’s familiar and it’s comforting.
I hope it’s truly a sign of no more frosts. I’ve sown lettuce and onions so far, and bought 2 kinds of potatoes on Monday to put in. And I put some nasturtium seeds in a planter on my back porch.
When we moved to Winston Salem, there was a gigantic deck behind the house that was in advanced disrepair, so I removed it. Beneath it was a crater left from a huge poplar that for one reason or another had been removed. Rather than fill in the dirt, I purchased a piece of rubber and made a pond. Maybe 12 feet in diameter. Each year more and more frogs come to it because I take very good care of the water and the land, not using pesticides. This year, the din from the frogs is so deafening you can’t even hear yourself talk. Many different types of frogs. It’s an excellent indicator of the health of the land.
all my plants have leaf buds or leaves. they make me smile
The spring peepers have been hollering around here for the last couple of weeks. We have a marshland across the way from our house, and 2 creeks that flow by our house, so we have the joy of listening to them in the spring. My daffodils and hellebores are blooming and looking so pretty, and other perennials are coming to life too.
I’ve been noticing daffodils, bushes and trees blooming, but yesterday was the day for me I could fully see spring coming. The grass had that look. The trees were half bloom half Kelly green. It made me smile
My Daddy used to say that when you hear the peepers, there wouldn’t be any more frost. let’s hope so! I am so tired of winter.
Loved hearing Granny & Paul yesterday. please tell them how much they are appreciated. Praying for Mrs. Wilson.
I’ve been exploring the pond near the house, I can hear the peepers, the pond is overflowing into the nearby Creek, it is supplied by natural spring, two beavers have moved in, I haven’t noticed any trees cut down, but debris has been moved to the spillway to block the flow of water, I have wondered if they were fish in that pond, I have permission to go there, the man I spoke to said, to throw a hook in and see, because of the Beavers I do believe they are fish, but I do not want to catch a beaver, God bless you friends and have a great day, I love the sound of the peepers