Wood frog couple

The Wood Frogs, those black-masked batrachians with the remarkable ability to enter suspended animation for the winter, have come back to life, and tonight, after too long an absence, they've made themselves known in the vernal pool area I've been monitoring for the past 30 years. By my records, they're late, but it's been that kind of real winter so their tardiness in filling the chilly night air with vocalizations that sound like a chorus of annoyed ducks is nothing truly unusual. Once they emerge from a hibernation so total you could call it death—no heartbeat, no brain waves, no sign of life—they have but one thing on their agenda: crafting the next generation. The female's on the bottom, the male's on top; the position is known as amplexus, Latin for "embrace." If all goes well, the happy couple will head to what they consider a good site for depositing an egg mass, and he will remain locked on top of her to fertilize the eggs as they emerge. They'll no doubt have company, as other couples join the mating and egg-laying frenzy. Wood Frog sex is a public affair, a very public affair.