As dusk falls over the forests, cities, beaches, and villages of Puerto Rico, sounds begin to fill the warm air. Calls, cries, and chirps soon echo from nearly every corner of the island. The rhythmic chorus lulls the island’s residents to sleep and continues through the night.
 

Four thousand miles away, in another island paradise, Hawaiian residents and tourists are going to sleep. But the shrill screeches that begin at nightfall are too loud for some. The sounds don’t cease until the break of dawn.

 

Heard, Not Seen

The noises described above may sound like they come from wildly different creatures. In fact, they’re made by just one animal: the coqui (koh-KEE) frog. These tree frogs are named for their two-note mating call: ko-kee, ko-kee. There are many different kinds of coquis, but they all make a variation of this call.

 

Coquis are native to several Caribbean islands, including Puerto Rico. The small frogs, which are about the size of a quarter, are not often seen—but they’ve been heard nightly for centuries. Their high-pitched calls are such a beloved part of Puerto Rico’s culture that poems, songs, and stories have been written about them.

 

In Hawaii, however, coqui frogs have only been around for a few decades. They most likely arrived as stowaways on imported plants.  Their calls are not nearly as well-loved in the Hawaiian islands as they are in the Caribbean. Some people complain that the coquis’ nighttime chorus is too loud. Others worry that the noisy croaks will cause tourists to stop visiting Hawaii.

 

Don’t Hate—Appreciate!

“Every tropical area in the world has frogs singing at night,” says Sydney Ross Singer, co-director of the Coqui Hawaiian Integration and Re-education Project (CHIRP). CHIRP works in Hawaii to change attitudes about the frogs. It encourages people to learn to appreciate coquis.