What is a Pinkletink?

Often called the harbinger of spring, the pinkletink is only called the pinkletink here on Martha’s Vineyard.

This little, tiny frog is one of the smallest known frogs and is not much bigger than a paperclip. However, it is to a Martha’s Vineyard spring what the robin is to the rest of the country. Never mind the snowdrops, the crocuses or even the extended daylight. Until we hear our first pinkletink, there is no convincing us that spring is actually coming. Even though this has hardly been a long, hard winter by any standard, the sound of the first pinkletink is a joyous one.

I heard them for the first time last night. Because something about their sound accompanying the thick Chilmark fog is so familiar and right, I almost didn’t notice them, but then I stopped and realized they were there. Chirping from the bushes and puddles left behind by this morning’s rain.

Research into the origin of the name pinkletink doesn’t yield much – only that this Island is the only place in the world that the Pseudacris crucifer is referred to as such. Everywhere else they are called "spring peepers." However, in New Brunswick, Canada, they are called "tinkletoes" and on Nova Scotia's South Shore, they are sometimes referred to as "pink-winks" – which could lead us to believe that the name pinkletink may have come to us by way of our neighbors to the north.

The chirping that we hear are the males, calling out to prospective loved ones after spending the winter hibernating under the cover of loose bark or under fallen logs. Pinkletinks have vocal sacs that are bigger than many other frogs. They use the sac to make a single high-pitched note that lasts about a tenth of a second and then they repeat this note in rapid succession. While most of the time we hear their mating call, they have a separate call that they use when involved in a conflict or fight. And they've been known to sing at the end of a good spring rain.

Their dark tan and brown markings allow them to camouflage in the brush along our swamps and ponds away from their many predators. However, we often are treated to their bright yellow newborn baby bellies when they attach themselves to the glass doors after a rainstorm or on a particularly foggy spring evening.

With the coming of the pinkletink, we understand that even though there could still be a big whopper of a snowstorm in our future, or temps in the single digits, we also have daffodils and the return of the birds in our future.

We have, in fact, made it through to the other side of winter.