What: Sophie, Sam and I headed down to New Haven last night after the Crow's Path potluck to check for amphibians. Amphibians start moving from their upland overwinter sites down to breeding grounds during the spring thaw. This usually happens late-March, early-April when temps are 37 or above and we get rain that soaks the ground. I can't find my records, but last year was super early and I think they started moving sometime around March 10th or so. I spend most of my time at Shelburne Pond, but that site doesn't see movement until after the New Haven site (the amphibians cross at the south end of SP, which is north facing and usually thaws around April 1).
We were out from about 9:30-10:15pm and here's our list
Jefferson's salamander: 15
blue-spotted salamander: 8
Jefferson x blue-spotted hybrid?
spotted salamander: 6
Wood frog: 4
Spring peeper: 2
4-toed salamander: 1
eastern newt: 5 (all dead)
Ecological notes: The temp had dropped down to about 37 when we got out of the car. All the newts were dead (abbreviated DOR by herpetologists) and we wondered if they had started moving earlier when it was warmer out - maybe coinciding with when folks were driving home. In order of activity level in the 37 degree weather it seemed like Jefferson's were the quickest followed by blue-spotted salamanders and then spotted salamanders. Each had their own jiggly little dance. I'll try and post videos later this month.
Where: North St in New Haven, about a mile north of Plank Rd. Super hot spot, usually one of the first spots in the Champlain Valley to see movement.
What: I can now hear the chorus of American toads (Anaxyrus americanus) in the retention pond under the power lines in Centennial Woods, which is about .2 miles from my house. There are fewer gray treefrogs this year, but the trade off is a solitary spring peeper (Pseudacris crucifer) and a solitary bullfrog, Lithobates catesbeiana (you can barely hear the bullfrog around 55 seconds in to the video), both are firsts for me in the last 4 years of monitoring amphibians in Centennial Woods. The wood frogs are no longer making any noises.
Ecological notes: Toads sing when the temps get around 60 degrees or higher. The recent rains seems to have brought out more of them. If these temps keep up, we should start seeing some fireflies in the near future! I was also surprised to see a beaver swimming around in the retention pond. I haven't seen them this far from Centennial Brook before. This one slapped its tail at me three times indicating that it might be an different beaver than the three that live in the brook that know me much better.
Where: Centennial Woods power line retention pond
Other notes: The taxonomic groups of bullfrogs, spring peepers and toads have recently been changed. When a species gets moved to another genus it keeps its specific epithet (the second part of the latin binomial). The former names for the three are Rana catesbeiana,Hyla crucifer and Bufo americanus, the bold parts changed, the non-bold parts remain the same by convention. I personally prefer the old names for reasons outlined quite well in this article on the taxonomy of treefrogs: Pseudacris vs Hyla
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