Friday, March 28, 2014

Needham, MA 3/28/2014

Tonight was my first amphibian migration survey of 2014. I was hired to survey some properties owned by the Army Corps of Engineers. Today the temperature approached 60 degrees, it rained on and off all day and stayed warm at night. I went out in the woods from 8:30-11:30PM with a high power mountain biking flashlight and observed a steady migration of salamanders walking towards the surrounding wetlands and vernal pools. Here are the highlights in photos. I saw 14 spotted salamanders, 3 blue spotted salamanders, a spring peeper, and a red-backed salamander. 

Sure enough someone called the police when they saw my car parked in an unusual spot. I left my contact information on the dashboard of my car on ACOE letterhead. The police saw my phone number and called me while I was in the woods. The officer realized I was on official business and was just calling to ask what I was up to, after explaining he wished me luck. Moral of the story, always leave a note. 
















2 comments:

  1. Nice pictures! We are getting a steady rain in Warrenton, VA tonight. My husband and I are going to head out to our vernal pool (no driving involved!) to see some migration. The migration has been quite late down here - but this rain should kick it into high gear!

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  2. Excellent post! I found your blog through the vernal pool listserv. I look forward to reading last night's post too!

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