The Symphony and the Swarm: Life on Yokum Pond

Of Peepers and Mayflies

We are fortunate to own a lovely cabin in The Berkshires on Yokum Pond in Becket, Massachusetts. It is a wonderful getaway --- a retreat we welcome at any time of year. Each season brings different experiences and this last weekend; we were visited by two distinct signs of spring: peeper frogs and mayflies.

Spring peepers (Pseudacris crucifer) are the more famous of all the chirping frogs. They belong to a group known as chorus frogs, and a chorus it is. These delightful creatures chant with a distinctive peeping refrain that, in large numbers, sounds like tingling bells carried on the wind. And this weekend there was an abundance.

The nights were a bit warmer, sort of, and with windows open, we fell asleep to the music.

It’s mating season, the time when the males call out to the females who are drawn to their singing suitors. After they mate, the females lay their eggs underwater … beneath the surface of our clean, fresh pond. How interesting, even exciting, to think about the thousands of eggs dropping to the bottom of Yokum Pond. When the eggs hatch in approximately 12 days, the singing stops.

We love the sonorous sounds of the peepers; friendly visitors who lull us each evening. If we wake, in the night they are still here, serenading us under the moon and the constellations. Mixed with the peeps are other note; trills, hoots, quacks and the occasional honk. If we listen closely, we might hear a growl. It is our private symphony.

Far less charming are the mayflies, those aquatic insects sometimes called shadflies or lake flies. Well … we’re on a lake and it’s May so the mayflies appear in massive swarms and mate in mid-flight. After mating, each female lays up to eight thousand eggs in the fresh water. At that point, the adults die and fall back into the water, becoming food for fish, frogs, and other aquatic life. Adult mayflies live a very short time, so if you wondered, that’s where they go in June, they are dead-in-the-water.

Lovely but annoying

Drawn to moisture, they love to alight on your ears, eyes, and skin. The sheer volume of these insects during their spring mating season can be a real trial. To make matters worse, they are highly attracted to light, gathering in thick, swirling clouds near our doorway at night.

It’s OK. It’s quite a phenomenon. It’s all about nature. We love the gleeps of the peeps and their pond friends. We tolerate the mayflies.

This morning, I looked out over the rippling water. A beaver dam stood in the distance, while a great blue heron posed rigidly at the water’s edge, waiting to pierce a fish. Barn swallows were diving and flitting through the air, catching bugs on the wing. The peepers were resting, and the mayflies were left spinning and twisting in the sun.

Our freshwater pond is a peaceful, pleasing delight.

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