Editing Spring peeper (section)

=== Mate searching behavior ===
{{Listen
| type         = sound
| pos          = right
| filename     = Pseudacris-crucifer-002.ogg
| title        = Single spring peeper calling
| description  = The call in relative isolation from others.
| filename2    = Springpeepers.ogg
| title2       = Collective spring peepers calling
| description2 = A few hundred in a single pond.
}}

As their common name implies, the spring peeper has a [[Pitch (music)|high-pitched]] call similar to that of a [[Chicken|young chicken]], only much louder and rising slightly in tone. They are among the first frogs in the regions to call in the spring.<ref>{{cite web |title=''Pseudacris crucifer'' |url=http://www.dnr.state.md.us/wildlife/Plants_Wildlife/herps/Anura/NorthernSpringPeeper.asp |publisher=Maryland Department of Natural Resources }}</ref> Unlike ''[[American toad|A. americanus]]'' and ''[[Upland chorus frog|P. feriarum]]'' whose call activity is dependent on seasonality, 63% of variance in ''P. crucifer'' call is explained by temperature.<ref name="brill.com"/> Calling rate can be modified by interactions among neighboring males, which tend to alternate calls with one another.<ref name="brill.com"/> The mating calls of the spring peeper consist of a sound very similar to a "peep" and are repeated by males up to 13,500 times per night.<ref name="Zimmitti-1999"/> As a chorus, they resemble the sounds of [[sleigh bell]]s.<ref name="BioKIDS">{{cite web |title=Spring Peeper |url=http://www.biokids.umich.edu/critters/Pseudacris_crucifer/ |access-date=19 November 2009 |work=The Regents of the University of Michigan |publisher=BioKIDS}}</ref> They are heard early in spring not long after the ice melts on the wetlands.<ref name="HN" /> The males usually call from the edges of the bodies of water in which they breed, hidden near the bases of shrubs or grasses. Even when calling, they may be difficult to locate and are most easily seen when in [[amplexus]] in the shallows. As in other frogs, an aggressive call is made when densities are high. This call is a rising trill closely resembling the breeding call of the [[southern chorus frog]] (''Pseudacris nigrita nigrita'').<ref name="GS" />