Southern New England Outdoor and Nature Site: Spring Peepers and other things

Friday, March 18, 2022

Spring Peepers and other things

Spring Peeper Peeping
They are only about an inch long

I have wanted to see a Spring Peeper for a few years now. We all hear Spring Peepers every spring, they have been calling the last few nights. However, I have never seen one. I even did a Facebook post last year about all of the wonders I have travelled to see, yet I have never seen a Spring Peeper. Well my friends, today was the day!

I spent the last two days doing local hikes and birding (more on that below). Since I was local, I came home for lunch. After lunch I went to the Chorney Property to see what I could find. When I was in the parking lot, I could hear some peepers from behind houses on the other side of the street. I knew there wasn't any access to them, but it got me thinking that they were already calling at 5 pm.

So I drove around. I didn't go far. I remembered a place I caught frogs with my first real girlfriend when I was a kid. It was a little pond off of High Street. I hadn't been down that road in years. When I got to the pond the area was an entire soccer complex. The pond was still there and it was loaded with Spring Peepers. The Peepers were so loud that they were piercing my eardrums. I figured if I don't see a Spring Peeper here and now, I may as well give up.

I walked the edge of the shoreline hoping to see them floating in the water or hop off the land as I got close to them. Neither of which happened. So I tried a new tactic, I sat on some rocks with the setting sun at my back. I would be patient enough to wait them out. I scanned the edge of the water hoping to see them. I watched a Youtube video on "How to see Spring Peepers" and I scanned the water for movement.

Finally as the sun started to go down the frogs started moving around. A couple of the ones in the water crawled up on sticks and water muck. I finally got to see my first ever Spring Peepers. They were males trying to impress females. I got to watch them call by expanding their throats for an hour. It was really fun to watch. Seeing Spring Peepers was probably the most important thing I have done this year. I know, I have weird priorities.

The other things I've done the last two days...

If you read my post from Wednesday you saw I'm doing a North Attleboro Big Year whenever I don't feel like travelling. Birding was not my original intention today. When I woke up this morning, I really wanted to go trout fishing. Both of the ponds near me were stocked with Brook Trout. The thought of fishing for Brookies instead of driving an hour to see birds sounded great to me. However, the thought of trout fishing must have sounded great to everyone else too. I couldn't get near either pond. I regretted not putting my kayak on my car before I left.

Gadwall in perfect light

Since trout fishing was off the menu, I went down to Blackstone Park in Providence to see if the Green Winged Teal was still around. It was not but some Gadwall and a Red Throated Loon were close. I stayed about a half an hour because I ran into my friend Dan F. I stopped at Swan Point to see if the teal had moved up river but it had not.

Red Throated Loon

Next I headed back towards home. I went to the North Attleboro Fish Hatchery. There is a nice hiking trail in the back that goes around a muddy swamp. I'm thinkin this could be a good spot for a variety of birds in a few weeks. The only things I got there were both American and Fish Crows.

From the Fish Hatchery I went to a land trust property in Attleboro called Nickerson Walking Woods Preserve. I stumbled upon this place when I was looking up places to walk in North Attleboro. The hike is off of Richardson Ave in Attleboro. I was pleasantly surprised when I heard and then saw Red Squirrels just as I was starting to walk. I do not see many Red Squirrels south of New Hampshire. This place was loaded with them. I counted eight throughout the walk. My best birds were three heard Hermit Thrushes and a Yellow Bellied Sapsucker. After I left Nickerson, I went home for lunch.

Lunch took a little while because I may have put on a the Ken Burns documentary about Baseball. When I emerged, I went back to the Chorney Property for the third time in three days. Today I was rewarded with wet feet but also I heard a Barred Owl. I felt very lucky to get that species because I would have had no idea where to find one. From there I went to the pond that had the Spring Peepers and you know the rest from there. More photos below.