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April 10, 1997 - Peepers: Spring's Call of the WildGA • The Suffolk Times • April 10, 1997 Peepers: Spring's Call of the Wild Have you heard the peepers in the evening? It seems to me they are espe- cially loud this year. Wherever there is a vernal pond or wet spot, you're almost sure to hear peep- ers at this time of year, for these tiny Focus frogs are attracted - to water like mag- nets. Their chorus Mature song is the male's vocal invi- by Paul tation to the female Stoutenbuieh to come to his par- adise and mate. But where do they come from, you might ask. We only hear them but never see them in the early spring. Actually they are all around us. They are members of the tree frog family, which means they have sticky discs on their toes so they can hold on to branches and limbs of trees as they hunt around in the trees and shrubs looking for insects of all sorts. They are very small frogs, hard - ly.an inch long. If you want to have some fun, take your child or grandchild down to one of these magical spots with a flash- light some warm spring evening and try to find Hyla crucifer, our spring peeper. Probably boots would make it even more fun, for it always seems the loudest and best peepers are the ones just a little bit farther out in the water. As you walk through the darkness with the stars sparkling above you, you seem to go back in time to when man was primar- ily a hunter. We've lost his great stalking ability as we step on twigs that snap and immediately the peepers are all quiet; they seem to be wired together. Then as you stand perfectly still they gradually, one by one, start up their chorus again until the whole area around you seems to come alive with their voices. A Night To Remember Search as you will with your flashlight beam, few of these little rascals will be able to be found. They are masters at hid- ing. Eventually your light picks up a light - colored ball and you've found your peep- er with his sac expanded under his chin, ready to give out with that high - pitched call we all associate with the spring night. Once spotted, it's the cautious approach that pays off and if you are lucky and you're quick, you might be able to capture our hunted peeper. Needless to say, if that child or grand- child made the capture, that moment will be well remembered. Safe in a jar, the peeper will be admired by all. Its tiny pads work like suction cups, holding it to the side of the jar. Now you can see that iden- tifying cross on its back, which is why it was given the Latin name, Hyla crucifer. But where do these multitudes of callers of the night come from? Actually they come from the woodlands around the pond. All winter long they hibernate beneath the leaf duff that covers the forest floor. It's this rich blanket of insulation that keeps them in a semifrozen state through the cold winter months. It seems they have a sort of antifreeze in their body that prevents them from freezing solid, thereby preventing them from being destroyed by rupturing their vital parts. Once the spring thaw moves in, they, too, thaw out and come alive and do what frogs do naturally — head for the offer. pond to mate. The female does not call. She lays her jelly -like mass of eggs in the cold waters of the pond and then leaves them unat- tended. As silence takes over the pond, the adult peepers return to the woods and the treetops, where they'll spend the rest of the summer until fall, when they once again will go into their winter's sleep. The pond has now become quiet and placid but not below the water's surface, for there in the jelly -like mass of eggs, life has just started anew. As the water warms up, the eggs develop and tiny tad- poles start wiggling about in their own embryonic sacs, with more growth and more strenuous wiggling, the tadpoles break free and enter their new world of pond water. Hundreds or maybe thou- sands start to move about their ancestral watery world. The tiny detritus of these ponds nour- ishes them as summer moves on. Soon their tail starts to shorten and their legs and feet emerge. Tiny frogs are develop- ing. In many cases this is a critical time, for should the shallower wet spots dry up before the tadpoles develop and disperse, depending on what the background is. If it's on a green leaf, it will change to green. Jump to the bark of a white oak and it will gradually adapt to the color of the oak bark. No wonder its Latin name is Hyla versicolor. Probably the most common of all our jumping creatures is the toad, which is not a frog at all. Yet it, too, resorts to the pond to breed. Its call is heard usually after the peepers' call is fin- ished. Toads have warty, dry skin while frogs have smooth, moist skin. The toad is the one we usual- ly see in our garden or around our back porch. He is a helpful fellow for he lives exclusively on insects of all sorts. While we're on the sub- ject of springtime ponds and breeding places, there's one more creature that follows the same routine as those men- tioned by going to the pond each spring and depositing its eggs. This creature is called the sala- mander, a name everyone has heard of but few have seen or know much about. Salamanders are like miniature dragons without all the fire and brimstone. They have moist, smooth skin and are seldom seen, for they live below ground among the decayed wood and moist duff of the forest floor. Some of the larger salamanders lay their eggs in rotten logs and damp places, but most re- vert to the pond where they mate and lay their eggs. Just last week a small group of us met in Moores Woods in Greenport to see if we could find any of these salamanders. We were equipped with flashlights and hip boots and waded among the many vernal ponds and pools that salamanders use as breeding grounds in these fabulous woods. We could spend only a short time there for we had other places to go; there- fore we found but few. We did find large baseball -size egg masses of the big black - and- yellow spotted salamander. We then visited other wet areas in Bayview in Southold, where we were lucky enough to find the eggs of the rarer tiger salamander. We actually caught and released a beauti- ful six- inch -long, black- and - yellow spot- ted salamander and saw numerous egg masses of the tiger salamander that we had been hoping to see more of. Perhaps we were too late, for it has often been said that these larger salamanders come to the ponds right after the ice has left. Our night was spent slopping around in ponds with water oftentimes sneaking over the top of our boots. We were in the most difficult -to- get -at spots you can imagine. It did prove that we still have salamanders in a few of the remaining wet areas here on our island. What trou- bles us most is that as development moves in and clears the woods, it will eliminate the habitat of many unknown species such as the salamander and frog that rely on the wetlands for their sur- vival. Hopefully some of these spots can be preserved, for even the lowly for their survival. Hopefully some of these spots can be preserved, for even the lowly sala- mander and the peeping frog are part of what makes our world what it is for us to enjoy. Photo by Paul Stoutenburgh EGG MASSES —This is what all the noise is about down by our pond and in wet spots. Peepers (small tree frogs) are best known for their spring chorus. Salamanders also come to these water areas to lay their egg masses, but they have no spring call to 75 Years Ago April 7, 1922 Town Board Meeting: At a meeting of the Southold Town Board at the office of Supervisor Tuthill in Greenport, the Town Board, on behalf of the town, accepted the deed of a triangular piece of land at East Marion to be used as the site of the World War Memorial Boulder at East Marion. Advertisement: Opening — Frank Davis Smith invites you to his opening of Trimmed Hats on Friday and Saturday, April 7 and 8. All are welcome. Positively no goods shown on Thursday. 50 Years Ago April 11, 1947 The End of Camp Upton: Camp Upton passed out of existence officially recently with the formal acceptance of the 6,000 -acre tract, which has served as a military canton- ment in two great wars, by the Associated Universities Inc. Henceforth the Yaphank reservation will be known as the Brookhaven National Laboratory site. Its dedication to the development of atomic energy for peacetime pursuits was signalized by brief ceremonies in which Dr. Philip Morse, director, and W.E. Kelley, area manager for the Atomic Energy Commission, participated. disaster and death could follow. Hope- fully rains will replenish the wet spots and the tadpoles will develop into tiny frogs and hop away into the woodland nearby. The call of frogs was heard long before there was a call from a bird, for in prehis- toric times they were the early creatures that left their ancient watery homes for new, more secure, footing on land. Yet even though they have become land crea- tures, each year they return to the water of the ponds to mate and lay their eggs for a new generation. There are other frogs that call, but our peepers are heralded as the true forerunners of spring. Another Frog and Toad The other tree frog we have here on the East End is larger and more spectacular in the sense that it can change its color Some 300 nontechnical workers, including firemen, policemen and maintenance personnel, were transferred from the commission's payroll to that of the laboratory. Local News: On Thursday of this week the employees of the Shelter Island Oyster Company, numbering about 40, terminated a very successful season with a banquet at the company's plant at the foot of Sterling Street. 25 Years Ago April 13, 1972 Southold News: A few weeks ago young Carl Wolfteich wrote a Letter to the Editor in favor of keeping Gardiner's Island as it is. This was so well received by the Gardiner family that Carl received a special invitation from them to visit the island sometime in June so he can see it as he has visualized it. There was a rumor going around last week that the Southold Savings Bank had been held up. What really hap- pened is that one of the employees hit the holdup button by mistake. Maybe it was a good mistake because if any would - be robber happened to be watching the speedy response by our Southold police, I'm sure he'd have second thoughts! Classified Advertisement: Wanted to Buy —One used Volkswagen bus, appearance unimportant, good run- ning condition. Will pay cash.