By: Steve Roark
Volunteer Interpreter, Cumberland Gap National Historical Park

Spring can be pretty noisy around ponds, lakes, water holes, and other moist areas. Male frogs and toads are the minstrels of warm weather, calling out in loud, pleading voices to woo females. Pause and listen to them, for what you are hearing is a love song.

Frogs and toads are called anurans by science folk, and there are around 20 species of them in our area. Since you’ll most likely hear anurans rather than see them, it’s helpful and enjoyable to learn to identify them by their calls. CDs are available in nature catalogs, but frog songs are easy to find on the internet. Try https://leaps.ms/soundpage.htm, which covers frogs and toads of our area. The following is a description of frog songs that I most often hear, and since breeding seasons vary, the list starts with the first you are likely to hear and goes from there.
Upland Chorus Frog (Pseudacris feriarum): If there’s a warm spell in the middle of winter, these guys will give it a go. Their call is short, raspy and rises in pitch. It sounds like someone dragging a thumbnail over the teeth of a comb.
Spring Peepers (Hyla crucefer) are sometimes the first you’ll hear in the spring. They are little guys, only around an inch long, but their high pitched “peep-peeps” can be heard for a quarter mile.
American Toad (Bufo americanus): Their voice is a long, high-pitched trill lasting six to thirty seconds. The calls peak in March and are heard mostly at night.
Mountain Chorus Frog (Pseudacris brachyphona): Their call is similar to the Upland Chorus Frog, but is faster and shorter, a raspy sound that rises in pitch. Their peak of calling is late February into March.
Green frog (Rana clamitans): This one is easy to identify, sounding like an out of tune banjo string being plucked, a short “dunk, dunk “. They’ll begin calling in March.
Bullfrogs (Rana catesbeiana) are the last ones to call and are the largest frogs in the U.S. - typically 3.5 - 6 inches long. They will eat almost anything they can fit into their mouths. Their voice is a deep, bass "VRUU-UUM".