Spring maybe coming soon? The peepers are popping so it must be true.

Set your calendar to the third week in February and each year you can count on the spring peepers greeting you with the melodious calls that fill the evening and night (and even overcast days) air.  That beautiful sound, a series of single high pitched whistles ("peep" "peep" "peep").  Whats really cool is that the singing by the males usually occurs in trios when they reach breeding age (three years old) and the louder you peep, the better your ability to attract true love (or at least the opportunity to breed) and the bigger you are the better your ability to mate and survive (Girls like bigger males in this case).  When the singing commences it tells you that they have emerged from hibertation and winter is almost gone and spring will be arriving soon.Each female lays between 800 to 1,000 eggs that will hatch in about 6 to 12 days and the larvae (tadpoles) transform into adults during the month of July. The spring peeper (Psuedacris crucifer) gets its name from the distinctive cross or X on its back.  This is a small frog, ranging up to about an inch in length and coloration can vary from olive to even slightly yellowish.  Look for the x on the back and the dark bands on the legs for better identification.  This is a frog of wet woodlands and small ephemeral, shallow ponds or pools without fish.  Like most frogs, these little guys are primarily active at night and this means if you are going to photograph them in their natural habitat, flash photography will be used.  The keys to using it successfully are to diffuse the light so you do not get such strong highlights and dark shadows and to make sure the eye is sharp and in focus.