Giant Frog Announces Spring is Finally Here

The giant northern spring peeper, a seasonal fixture at the Museum of Natural History in Halifax for the past 23 years, finds its place on the southeast side of the museum at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, May 6.

For many Nova Scotians, the giant spring peeper -- made of wood and fibreglass, and about the size of a Volkswagen bug -- announces that spring has officially arrived and that summer is just around the corner.

The northern spring peeper is a tiny tree frog about the size of a quarter. Each spring, children, adults and families wait and listen for the chorus of peeps -- which are mating calls -- as the official indicator that spring is here. The peeping sounds can be tracked across the province, starting in the more southern areas as early as late March. Peeps can also be heard in northern areas of the province into June.

This year the first peeps were heard on April 3, in Yarmouth and Shelburne Counties. Spring got underway with choruses of peeps being heard at a number of localities along Route 203 from Carleton to Shelburne. In Halifax Regional Municipality the first reported peep was on April 22 at 9 p.m. at Julie's Pond Princess Lodge.

The Nova Scotia Museum of Natural History is located at 1747 Summer St., Halifax.