• There seems to be an uptick in Political comments in recent months. Those of us who are long time members of the site know that Political and Religious content has been banned for years. Nothing has changed. Please leave all political and religious comments out of the forums.

    If you recently joined the forums you were not presented with this restriction in the terms of service. This was due to a conversion error when we went from vBulletin to Xenforo. We have updated our terms of service to reflect these corrections.

    Please note any post refering to a politician will be considered political even if it is intended to be humor. Our experience is these topics have a way of dividing the forums and causing deep resentment among members. It is a poison to the community. We appreciate compliance with the rules.

    The Staff of SOH

  • Server side Maintenance is done. We still have an update to the forum software to run but that one will have to wait for a better time.

How says it's quiet in the country?

O

OBIO

Retired SOH Admin
Was just out on the patio a few minutes ago and my ears were assaulted by what sounded like a million billion gazillion Peepers, Tree Frogs and other assorted toads and frogs singing in unison. Very loud, ear piercing sound....got annoying very quickly and kind of hurt my ears after a bit. I came in, grabbed the digicam and took a MOV video of the sound....it's dark so there is nothing to see, just the sound of all those singing toads and frogs.

Turn up the volume on your PC speakers....the real sound was very loud and you need to hear it LOUD to appreciate just how noisy the country can be. Right at the end of the "video" a car is going by...about 700 feet from the house...yet you can barely hear the car over the noise of the froggies. The sound quality suffered a bit from being uploaded to Photobucket...but this will give you the general idea.

OBIO

http://s225.photobucket.com/albums/dd251/OBIOandSharkbait/?action=view&current=FrogSOng.mp4
 
What a pleasent sound, you get used to it, just background noise. I missed it mightily while at Fairford for RIAT. The countryside is so quiet at night - except for the pub crawlers - very noisy creatures. At home, I hear this every night or day when its rains. At night they make a great burglar alarm. Anyone encrouches onto the property and they go silent. Wakes you right up. Cute little suckers, about an inch in size and you can hear them up to a quarter of a mile away.
 
We've got tree frogs in Washington State too. I kind of enjoy hearing them, but we must not have as many as you do. We have two color variations. Brown (like your photo) and a lovely green one. Same genus and species as far as I can tell, just different color variations.

For a really iritating serenade, try cicadas in Southeast Asia. It goes on for days and penetrates every pore of your being. Then... all of a sudden, there is total silence. It leaves you feeling that something is missing. And then there are the F*** You lizards...
 
I know the sound well. My house is on a 1.64 acre plot in a neighborhood where everyone has a lot around that size. The lots are heavily wooded, and my neighborhood absolutely SINGS when the sun goes down. Nature is very loud!

Oh, and how did you get the cork background in your Photobucket page? Mine is stark white.
 
We have the brown ones like in the photo, and the green ones that Jag mentioned. Also some that are kind of grayish. Same species, just different colors. We once had one in our house, climbing around in one of our giant house plants. We thought about allowing him to stay there, but both really knew that inside living was not best for the Peeper, so I carefully carried him back outside and placed him on the trunk of the Chestnut tree beside the house.

Bone,

As to how I got the corkboard background on my Photobucket account: Open one of your Albums and down along the left side you will find a box titled SHARE THIS ALBUM. In that box, there is a line called THEME with an Edit clickie area. Click the clickie area and it will take you to a of theme selections. You can set each Album to a different Theme or use one theme for your entire album collection.

OBIO
 
i would trade you sounds any day. i live on the 4th floor of an apt. on one of the busiest roads in this area. there is never (literally) a time when there is no traffic. not at 2 am on wed night. not at 5 am sunday morning. i haven't slept with my windows open in over 3 years. oh, i neglected to mention i live across from a gas station that sells the cheapest gas in town. their tanks get re-filled every 2 or 3 days. at 2 in the morning. i get to hear that big tanker beeping and grinding, 3 times a week
 
How says it's quiet in the country?
Click to expand...

I'm sure you meant WHO ... in which case I say me. That audio sounded wonderful!

You should hear what my nights sound like here in the big J ... ambulances, police, fire, sirens, helicopters with search lights, Police P.A. systems blaring, and the locals firing hand guns or long guns about every hour. Sounds like a damned war zone.

They've scared off all the peepers.
 
OBIO said:
Was just out on the patio a few minutes ago and my ears were assaulted by what sounded like a million billion gazillion Peepers, Tree Frogs and other assorted toads and frogs singing in unison. Very loud, ear piercing sound....got annoying very quickly and kind of hurt my ears after a bit.
Click to expand...

Woah! Instant flashback!
Back in "those days" (the 60's/70's- give you any hints?) I read a bunch of stuff by Richard Brautigan
http://www.brautigan.net/

In "A Confederate General From Big Sur" he wrote about Lee Mellon...

Lee Mellon believes he is the descendant of the only Confederate General to have come from Big Sur and is himself a seeker after truth in his own modern-day war against the status quo and the state of the Union. This novel is set in 1957, and was the late Richard Brautigan's first to be published.


Cover notes: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Confederate-General-Rebel-Inc-Classics/dp/0862419646
Jesse and Lee share a house owned by a very nice Chinese dentist, where it rains in the hall. They move to cabins on the cliffs at Big Sur where the deafening croaks of frogs can be temporarily silenced by the cry, 'Campbell's Soup'. Ultimately, we learn how the frogs are permanently silenced ... and dreams disperse around a fire into 186,000 endings per second.

Brautigan was sometimes rude, vulgar, quirky, but fascinating. Even now, someone mentions the sound of frogs I not only remember the chapter, but where I was the day I read it.

Of course, the cry : "Campbell's Soup" may not work on your particular collection of frogs, but it's a start.. as is reading the book.

Rob
 
Usually the chorus of the frogs is relaxing and enjoyable, but last night was something I have never heard before....so many frog voices joined in a cacophony of high pitched sound. The sound was coming from every direction...even straight over head as there were frogs up in the pine and chestnut trees that mushroom out over our patio. Even Brutus, our 13 pound Chihuahua/Jack Russell mix, was unnerved by all the frog song. very odd night.

OBIO
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top