But the spring peeper has in its call the sound of wilderness, and its nighttime sound celebrates all that's primitive. In early April, it is an isolated note heard here and there in the wetlands. By May, it is a mighty chorus so loud that motorists passing lakes and ponds hear it through closed windows. Barely an inch long, the male spring peeper calls for females of the species with a loud trill that may be heard hundreds of feet away. Males do their singing from grass and brush near ponds and rivers.
Peepers are an inch to an inch and a half long.
Their color varies from brown to gray-green. A distinctive X-shaped cross appears on the back of each spring peeper. It is that X-shaped cross that contributes to the peeper's scientific name, Hyla crucifer. Hyla means tree frog. Crucifer means cross-bearing.