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The Coquí, Island Singer Written by Mayra Calvani
Are all frogs green? Do all frogs have webbed toes? Do all frogs croak? The answer to these questions is NO. In the forests and gardens of Puerto Rico there lives a tiny tree frog that isn’t green. Instead, it is brown or yellowish. It doesn’t have webbed feet, but padded disks at the end of its toes to help it climb trees in search of insects. It doesn’t croak. Instead, it sings. Its name is coquí (pronounced ‘ko-kee’). The coquí’s song, which lasts from dusk till dawn, is what makes this little frog famous. The coquí sleeps in its nest all day long. Then, when the sun goes down, it comes out and starts singing. It sings all night long until early morning when the sun comes out again. Then it goes back to sleep in its nest. Its night song doesn’t sound the same as its early morning song. During the night, the coquí sings co-quí, co-quí, co-quí! Then, as it gets closer to dawn, its serenade changes to co-qui-qui-quí, co-qui-qui-quí, co-qui-qui-quí! Its chirp is so high-pitch it can be heard from very far away—it can even keep tourists awake in the middle of the night. Why does the coquí sing nonstop, night after night? First of all, only the male coquí sings, not the female. The male coquí sings for two reasons: to attract a mate and to establish a territorial boundary. When the coquí sings co-quí, the ‘co’ scares other males away and the ‘quí’ attracts females, so he’s doing two important jobs at the same time. The coquí doesn’t like other coquíes entering the area he believes to be his home. When this happens, a coquí may engage in a singing duel with another coquí. The first coquí to stop singing or to hesitate is the loser and hops off without engaging in a fight. The duel can last several minutes. Have you ever seen a coquí or listened to its nightly song? Click HERE to find out.
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