At least by the second week of March, West Virginians are being serenaded by a chorus of spring peepers, a sure sign winter is done.
Pseudacris crucifer, as the little peepers are officially known, breed and vocalize when their wetland homes begin to thaw. After a long, cold winter, their voices are most welcome. You're more likely to hear them first in the warmer lowlands near Charleston or Charles Town in early March and last in the Allegheny Mountains of the eastern state where the thaw won't come surely until April.
As clearly as I an remember, I encounter them first in marshy bottoms on and near the Ohio River on the western border of the state, though I presume the beginning seeing first along the Potomac River in the Eastern Panhandle, where temperatures tend to warm first.
The following Warticle contains plenty of information as well as sound files that will at least inspire hope in listeners in need of the promise of warmth: Pseudacris crucifer.
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