Tuesday, April 17, 2018

Dracut vernal pool survey April 12, 2018


I visited a vernal pool in the woods near my parents house that was the first vernal pool I certified for a college project and one that I rode my bike or hiked past countless times as a kid. It has been years since I last surveyed the pool and thought it was time to take another look around and see what I could find during this years' amphibian mating season.

On April 1 of this year I visited this pool during the day and saw only one wood frog egg mass walking along the edge of the pool looking for egg masses attached to branches underwater. I knew that this pool had abundant amphibian breeding activity in the past so I made a plan to visit the site again.  

On April 12, 2018 I hiked out to the pool around 7:30 when there was a light drizzle, by the time I got to the site after a short 5 minute walk the rain had picked up and was coming down pretty strong. When I arrived at the pool there was a loud spring peeper chorus and after 20 minutes of looking around the pool a group of wood frogs began chorusing.
Wood frog

Audio of spring peeper (high pitch) and wood frog (low 'quacking') chorusing in a forested vernal pool.

As I walked around the pool I found a few dozen spotted salamander egg masses as well as a few wood frog egg masses scattered throughout the edge of the pool attached to submerged branches about 1-2 feet below the water surface. 

As I continued to search the pool in the rain wearing a pair of chest waders (where I was knee deep in water in one leg) I was able to locate two adult spotted salamanders swimming in the vernal pool. I managed to catch and photograph one to share here on this blog. 


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