Average Guy Outdoors: Jeepers Peepers

Image credit: https://ohiodnr.gov/wps/wcm/connect/gov/f9f984f9-0e28-4586-9c15-b841fd03de19/northernspringpeeper1-HERO.jpg?MOD=AJPERES&CACHEID=ROOTWORKSPACE.Z18_JQGCH4S04P41206HNUKVF31000-f9f984f9-0e28-4586-9c15-b841fd03de19-pIvo2PS

I’ve heard, or more accurately, read, that you can hear a lion’s roar from 5 miles away. That’s pretty impressive. At 114 decibels, it’s in line with heavy machinery or a rock concert. At or close to 500 pounds for males, there is some mass behind the sound. At the other end of the size-to-sound spectrum are Northern spring peepers.

These tiny amphibians weigh in at a minuscule 0.11 to .18 ounces and can probably sit on your thumbnail, but they give the king of the jungle a run for their money for decibels per pound. One of the first harbringers of spring, peepers can hit 90 decibels across the leafless landscape, allowing the sound to carry a great distance. That’s 4 + pounds per decibel for the lion, .002 pounds per decibel for the little frogs, if you’re keeping track. They’re like modern stereo speakers compared to the giant old hi-fi stereo speakers: small but mighty. I recall one spring several years ago. They were in a woodlot more than a ½ mile away but you’d swear they were just across the street.