While some describe the bullfrog’s sound as “jug-o-rum,” it also sounds like the low moo of a bull on a still summer night, the sound can certainly travel across a field or two and right into your open windows.
When summer rolls around, even if you can tucker your kids out enough to hit the hay, there’s still plenty of sounds around from all the critters.
“Peepers” can be fun to listen to, but could you actually pinpoint what a “peeper” was? What about the other noises in the night?
Since a “peeper” is a common creature, we’ll start there. Peepers are tiny frogs — those little ones the length of the top of your finger.
March to June, you’ll hear them courting for a mate, with the male singing and the females responding. Incessant, flickering peeps that could likely keep up with flickering holiday lights. Oh, young love.
Aside from the little frogs, if you are near a bit of water, even just a farm pond, you’ll be hearing the bigger guys too.
With ponds smattered around many local farms as well as lots of small streams, the Eastern Shore is home to many bullfrogs, whose deep noise gave them their name.
While some describe the sound as “jug-o-rum,” it also sounds like the low moo of a bull on a still summer night, the sound can certainly travel across a field or two and right into your open windows.
Again, only the males make the ruckus.
Crickets are another noisy yet tiny critter. That first cricket that moseys into your home in late summer makes possibly the most noise on earth.
Rubbing their legs or wings together to, yep, attract a mate.
They appear out of nowhere and through the consistent chirping, can turn into a soothing soundtrack to summer each evening, until they disappear until the following year.
The other little critters rubbing their legs together to make a racket are the leaf-looking katydids. One naturalist descries the sounds as, “ high swishing of a drummer’s brush against a cymbal.” Harder to spot than say a cricket, they’ll often stay outside and with such nice camouflage, it’s likely you won’t even see them.
While the smaller nocturnal musicians seem to be making music, the bigger furry and feathered critters are just making downright noise.
Red foxes are perhaps the most unsettling animals to listen to at night. They sound like a child screaming, like you haven’t heard enough of that. In their case, the females are the first to scream, and are sometimes answered by a male scream.
Another nocturnal screamer are opossums, who scream when they are in a scuffle.
If you find yourself closer to one tucked away in your barn, or brush, you’ll likely hear a guarding hiss or grunt. You’re most likely to scare each other, so you’ll probably grunt too.
Owls are of course one of the easier animals to identify and very cool to listen to. Barred owls and great horned owls make the classic “who-who, whoo-whooo” while a barn owl is more of a scream.
(If you think you are hearing an owl during the day? You could be, but mourning doves also make a similar sound!)
You also may hear the other famous lurkers of the night. Bats with their squeaky squeaks. Most of the time, their noises are more high pitched than a human is able to hear, but occasionally you’ll hear them using their echolocation skills to grab some dinner.
And lastly, while most birds will wake you up with a song in the morning, Mockingbirds have been known to sing all night long. No rest for the weary!
If you enjoy the breeze and the animal sounds floating through your windows at night, keep an eye out for programming at our local nature centers. Nocturnal walks are a frequent program at Pickering Creek where the wooded trails come to life while Adkins Arboretum does frequent “Soup n’ Walks” where you can discuss mysterious chatters as well.
While sometimes annoying, crickets, frogs and furry friends in the woods are very likely to be more romantic than your significant other. I don’t recall ever being sang to.
