The Birth of a Vernal Pool

“It is spring again. The earth is like a child that knows poems by heart.”
- Rainer Maria Rilke

Winter is trying to hang on, but spring is sneaking in around the edges. We've had a couple of really lovely, warmer days, and we seized the opportunity to head outdoors on this day to visit our local gameland, the Scotia Pine Barrens.

My husband was jogging; I was walking along with my camera. The trails were mostly clear, but with some impressive icy spots in the shady areas. We went all the way down to one of the beaver ponds we know, where I took the picture of the snowman back in late January. Of course the snowman has long melted, and I probably wouldn't recommend walking on the ice anymore.

And scattered throughout the woods are many vernal pools, like this one. They have been iced over and snowed in for the past few months, but the spring melt is beginning. In a few weeks, these pools will be just teeming with life: salamanders, wood frogs, and loudest of all, the spring peepers (more info on the peepers here and a very short YouTube video here).

I walked along the edge of this vernal pool looking and listening for wildlife. But there were no cheeps or ker-plunks to be had on this day. Don't worry, though; it will come. And when it does, the sound will be nearly deafening.

In Pennsylvania, the sound of the peepers peeping in their vernal pools is one of the surest signs of spring, a welcome symphony. The awakening of the vernal pools is a prelude to the main act; and so, let the curtain rise to begin the show!

The song: The Zombies, Time of the Season, from 1968. Oh, it's the time of the season for . . . froggies!