Purple Crocus
Finally, a crocus for us! Any crocus for you? If not, all these April showers will bring many May flowers…
Read MoreCould Tonight be the Night?!
Tonight’s conditions are looking promising for amphibian migrations to begin as overnight temperatures will be above 40°F and rain is on it’s way. While humans don’t like to be out much during rainy nights, salamanders and frogs use these evenings to migrate in mass to their vernal breeding pools. With that said, be on the lookout for these special species whether you are hiking or driving and give them plenty of space as they make their way from their wooded hiding places to their watery breeding grounds.
Read MoreVernal Pools Poking Through
Last weekend as we were out surveying for HWA in Dobbin’s Woods, a beautiful Chautauqua Watershed Conservancy property, we came across several little pools beginning to form in the depressions of the landscape as the snow increasingly melts back. While these pools aren’t too attractive for us to throw our beach chair next to, they are extremely important to a number of amphibian species. In the upcoming weeks these small pools will serve as little nurseries for salamander and frog offspring to safely develop from egg-y masses to free swimming larvae to land conquering tetrapods....
Read MoreAmphibian Crossing
This Wednesday or Thursday, depending on your location in the Northeast, should bring temperatures well past 40 or even 50 with rainy conditions. Since it is late March it may be the first night of amphibian migration as these are ideal conditions for frogs, toads and salamanders to emerge from hibernation and start migrating to a nearby wetland at night! Please slow down for salamanders and frogs when you’re driving back roads near wetlands – even when they don’t get crushed by your tires, the slipstream generated underneath a vehicle when you’re moving more than 20-25 MPH will pick these...
Read MoreSnow Piling Up
The snow keeps piling up for us this February, its weight on the trees and the earth growing. We will have a lot of water to absorb into the soil come spring! If the conditions stay near normal throughout the next few months vernal pools should be filled with plenty of successfully reproductive amphibian life. Additionally, this upcoming weekend may finally thaw us out a bit (if we define “thaw” as the temperature actually rising above freezing for a few hours) and deliver a system featuring…gasp…liquid precipitation that does not freeze on contact! It is also known...
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