Visiting Little Rock City
It’s long trip along winding country roads to get to Little Rock City. Try putting 7238 Hungry Hollow Road, Salamanca, New York into your GPS or Goggle maps app. That’s the last address I saw before making a right turn onto Little Rock City Road. There is no sign for Little Rock City Road. A state worker taking a break at the intersection assures me that I was headed in the right direction. At the end of the road is a cul-de-sac where you park. There is a DEC sign that indicates there are trails somewhere but it is not clear where. I follow the advice of that state worker and explore the...
Read MoreLate Summer Toadlets
This past week we visited another Natural History Atlas site, Canadaway Creek Wildlife Management Area, to survey for a diversity of species and update our past information about the site. While we were out exploring and recording the species we came across, we noticed a number of tiny American toads (Anaxyrus americanus), or toadlets, hopping across the trail. Only about half an inch long, these little toads were recently metamorphosed from nearby ponds and pools. These amphibians waste no time at all, as it only takes them about 1-2 months to go from a gelatinous egg to a free swimming...
Read MoreDragonflies of Pennsylvania
At this time on warm or hot, sunny days it is a good bet you will find me spending at least an hour or two conducting dragonfly and damselfly surveys. More species are emerging as the summer begins and it is the prime time to find both great diversity and tremendous numbers of odonates at ponds, streams, rivers, swamps, bogs – nearly anywhere with an abundance of water. Last weekend I visited Akeley Swamp just over the Pennsylvania border to see what it held in its Conewango Creek-fed wetlands. I was overwhelmed with 30 species including several that were a first for the year for me....
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