Dear Ferret Folks- It's that time of year, again. Those of us here in central MA have been over-run by THEM again. THEM. That's all we knew to call them the first spring that my hubby and I spent in our new home here in Templeton. We're far enough into spring that the deep mud is thawing, now. The maples are showing red and fancy at their tips. The crocus have largely come and gone, the daffodils are starting to turn yellow faces up to the sun. It's time to start thinking about taking the floor mats out of the car and giving them a good shake. Spring is here, and with it, THEM. THEY do have a name, although it took us a little while to find out just what the *ell they were. Now, you need to understand that we live in a mature hemlock forest up here. For that you need moist, acid soil, which we have in abundance. This is the home of blueberry,cranberry, wintergreen, and mountain laurel. My neighborhood is dotted with swampy spots, vernal pools, and clear, fast running little streams. The woods are indeed lovely, dark, and deep. And...they are the home to Rana Sylvatica, the Eastern Wood Frog and countless other amphibians. This is frog heaven. And Rana Sylvatica is the first to emerge from the mud and serenade us all night long with songs of endless, moist lust. Do they "peep"? Noooo. They quack. Yes, quack. They quack like a duck all night long. They quack LOUDLY like a duck all night long. MILLIONS of them quack LOUDLY like ducks all night long. It's *deafening*. And the first time you hear it I promise you, your reaction is "What the *ELL is THAT!?" But don't take my word for it, turn up your speakers and welcome to my world! http://www.naturenorth.com/spring/sound/Wood_Frog.mp3 Now, that was only a *few* of them. I do not exaggerate when I say that we have MILLIONS of them. We can hear them right through the night, even with the windows closed. I accidently left one cracked open about six inches last night, and I came into the computer room to find that Todd had climbed up as high and as close to that window as he could. He stood there in the darkness, right below the lace edge of the curtain, his whole body tense, little nose quivering, ears standing up and away from his head like shark fins. His tail was puffed out like a bottle brush as he listened to them in their MIIIIILLIONS....He was completely engaged in the deafening chorus from the woods. He had never heard it before, as I have, had no explanation for it at all. So I, being the kind of person I am (horrible), snuck up on him and slammed a book on the computer desk. He didn't even stop to look to see what had made the loud noise, he just leapt for the floort, hit it leaving sparks in the darkness from where his undercarriage scraped the carpet and took off across the room in terror, disappearing into his cage for the night. And my evill laughter joined the deafening chorus of quacking from the trees.... Alexandra in MA P.S. I thought of *Wolfy* when I did it, Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha! Except she wouldn't have done that to a *ferret*, she would have done it to one of her *kids*. [Posted in FML 6307]