Tides of Spring

The arrival of spring is being felt deep within the collective taproot of Crow’s Path. Slowly but surely, layers were shed, and suddenly it seemed there was more space around the circle during our morning gratitude and song! The quietude of winter was slowly broken, beginning with the trills of red-winged blackbirds and Eastern phoebes.

Listen to the Red Winged Blackbird call here

Listen to the Eastern phoebe call here

When the rainy evening came where temperatures rose above 50° F, out came courtship calls from spring peepers, followed by wood frogs and leopard frogs in later weeks. Take a listen to their calls below. Do any of these sound familiar? If you were to describe the sound of their call to a friend that had never heard it before, how might you describe it?

One of our favorite places to go this time of year is out to Woodfrog Wallow– formally known as Peeper Pond– our residential vernal pool. Vernal pools are ephemeral (temporary) woodland pools created by snow melt pooling into sunken pockets of land in the early months of spring. Eventually the are gobbled up and evaporated by the summer’s strong sun, and therefore are uninhabited by fish. Amphibians rely on the temporary pools for courtship, mating, and laying their eggs.

In celebration of the return of our amphibious friends, we sing the Spring Peeper song* A recording of this song by mentor, Lauren Akin, is below. We invite you to sing it too,  and help us lay down the invisible welcoming mat to spring peepers!

*The melody was based off of a song brought to Crow’s Path by former Field School kids who had learned it from a play they were participating in, and the original lyrics were to the Langston Hughes poem, Dream Keeper.

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