In the middle of the day little stirs in the jungle
and the hot dense air muffles the sound.
As the afternoon wears on,
a different set of players begin to warm up.
Insects work in harmony,
timing their calls to fall between the notes of others.
Many singers stick to precise schedules
and right on cue the six o'clock cicadae.
Night brings out a whole new orchestra.
The cacophony of competing calls
seems deafening to us
but frogs ears are tuned to hear only the calls of their own kind.
The songs of courtship echo from all around.
Male gliding leaf frogs leap from the treetops.
To slow their descent,
they use their huge webbed feet as parachutes.