Spring Peeper (in Texas, finally!)Pseudacris crucifer

I have seen and heard Spring Peepers (Pseudacris crucifer) in Texas on a number of occasions, just not since I started recording frogs.  My last documented Spring Peeper sighting in Texas was from over 20 years ago.  I just haven't been in their range at the right time of year.
I have photographed and recorded Spring Peepers in the past, just not in Texas.

So this spring I decided that was going to be one of the frogs to get off my list of Texas needs.  So with spring break approaching I began to watch the weather in eastern Texas and fortunately the areas of Texas in Spring Peeper range had some heavy rains just a few days before I would be able to go.

I arrived in the Davy Crockett National Forest about an hour before sunset and immediately heard a large chorus of Peepers calling at a flooded forest pool.   Through the next 48 hours, I heard thousands and thousands of the little Peepers calling!

Strangely, my past experience with Spring Peepers is that they are pretty tolerant of herpers with cameras and will allow themselves to be photographed while calling.  However, these Davy Crockett Peepers were not cooperative and this is the best I could get.....but it is officially a Texas Spring Peeper and I got a recording of it and a few hundred of his brothers.

And here's what a Texas Spring Peeper sounds like (you can hear the accent 😉)

© Chris Harrison 2016