The first sounds of an approaching Ohio spring
- John Lorson: The Rail Trail Naturalist
- March 13, 2024
- 342
If there is one sound that clearly signals the rapid approach of springtime in our little part of the world, it’s the high-pitched, whistling “peep” of Ohio’s smallest frog species, the spring peeper. Sew a handful of sunny days together with a few mild nights and all your dreams of budding trees and greening fields will gain a soundtrack that’s been sung across the land since the last glacier retreated. Often it’s February and sometimes late as March, but rest assured the peepers will awaken almost as quickly as the ice is off to be the first kids in the neighborhood to celebrate the end of winter.
Spring peepers are frequently joined in their efforts by the jittery quack of the wood frog — a fellow amphibian and equally convincing harbinger of spring.
The wake-up call is just the beginning of activity at this time of year for many amphibians, a class of the animal kingdom whose name stems from the Greek amphi (both) and bios (life). Represented in our area by the frogs and toads, along with their cousins the salamanders, most members of this group spend their adult lives on land, but all must return to the water to mate and lay eggs to begin the life cycle once again.
While many of the frogs and toads are content to seek out the nearest body of still or slow-moving water to complete the task, the salamanders often lean toward a more distinct and specialized habitat — something called a vernal pool — where they’ll leave their eggs glommed to a submerged twig in a gelatinous ball.
If you’ve never been partial to walking the woods in the late winter or early spring, you may have never encountered a vernal pool in full biological bloom. The knee-deep puddles range in size from that of a parking space and to the full expanse of a soccer field. Size doesn’t really seem to matter so long as the impoundment carries one key characteristic — it needs to dry up periodically as doing so prohibits colonization by the biggest predatory threat to both eggs and young — the fish!
Inspired by my youngest daughter, last weekend I found myself fully immersed — both figuratively and literally — in the world of springtime amphibians at an event in the Hocking Hills area of Southern Ohio that bore the joyfully descriptive name Vernalpoolooza. A project of the Ohio Wetlands Association, the conference proved the Appalachian foothills as an ideal location to find and study amphibians in their natural domain.
The event also offered me a chance to give a unique birthday gift to my youngest daughter Sylvia, who has returned to college to augment her journalism degree with one in natural resources management in order to accelerate her already budding career in outdoor education. Together we “geeked out” for three days straight on wetland wildlife and the science surrounding it. Daytime lectures were followed by nighttime hikes with camp food and bunkhouse living in between. Not only did we learn tons about vernal pools, but also their ecology, wildlife and unique place in the ecosystem. We also had the best time ever, and the memories will last a lifetime — and maybe beyond as we each use what we’ve learned to educate folks about the natural world.
If you have comments on this column or questions about the natural world, write The Rail Trail Naturalist, P.O. Box 170, Fredericksburg, OH 44627, or email jlorson@alonovus.com. You also can follow along on Instagram @railtrailnaturalist.