Photo: John M. Adamski

There are 14 species of frogs and toads in New York State. One of them, is the Northern Spring Peeper (Pseudacris crucifer crucifer). The Peeper is a tree frog that is well known – at least for it’s call. The familiar call is often heard on rainy nights from March through May, and is associated with the start of spring in the Northeastern United States. They are nocturnal frogs and are seldom seen. Males call to attract a female, often from low hanging shrubs and bushes near vernal ponds. During amplexus, the female will lay up to 1000 eggs. Tadpoles usually take from 45 to 90 days to develop into adult frogs.

The Spring Peeper is one of the easiest N.Y. frogs to identify because of the cross on it’s back, hence the latin name crucifer. I took this image on a road in central Monroe county on a rainy, cool night in April of last year. I find night time photography challenging and will work hard to get better images! Sorry for the grainy quality! I think this was a female do to the lighter body color. Males often have a dark patch under their throat. Unfortunately, many of these frogs and others are killed by the thousands on nights like these by drivers unaware of their presence. Always look for crossing frogs!