We got there at roughly 8:30 and headed to the trail. It was drizzling and we saw loads of Earthworms pulling back into their holes as our headlamps illuminated them. Upon hitting the trail, we were a bit sad that we didn't hear any frogs yet. No Peepers, no Woods. Were we still just too early? Well, when we headed towards the first vernal, we saw many sets of eyes shining back at us. We weren't early, the Wood Frogs were just quiet. This is our First Of Year:
Obviously just awakened and not yet as horny as they'll soon get, Wood Frogs were plentiful.
Such a joy. First frogs since early November!
We did hear a few weak quacks but the "let's hump everything" cacaphony wasn't going to happen this night. We did hear a few lone Peepers peep, as well, but never saw one. Much to my delight, as we were heading back to the trail after watching Wood Frogs in a pool for a while, Andrea saw a single Spotted Salamander!
We weren't sure we'd see any mole salamanders but there's always one knucklehead that can't wait. We are eternally grateful for our FOY Spotted. Here's another look:
Yes, it was quiet but Wood Frogs were everywhere. You can see plenty of shining eyes in this pic and even a few full-body ride-'em-cowboys.
Here's a close-up ride-'em-cowboy Woodies... you can see why we use that phrase.
One thing that we didn't see last year that was sorely missed... Fairy Shrimp. I haven't any idea why last year was a bust but some pools were teeming with them this year.
So cool. This Wood Frog had a bunch of Fairy Shrimp around him.
We continued up the trail, getting in some walking and looking out for possible salamanders. I got excited when I thought we'd found our first Redback on the year, but closer inspection showed it to be our first Blue-spotted instead!
From 6 feet up, I'd have said it was a leadback! He was very small, about the size of a medium Redback.
Continuing up the path, we pointed to a tree a few yards up and noted it as our turn-around spot. We made it there, turned around, and saw this second Blue-spotted that we somehow hadn't stepped on. He was just as small as the other one.
Heading back, we kept our eyes peeled for more salalamanders but saw none. Oddly enough, we still haven't seen any lungless sals, just these two mole species. That's fine... they will come. Of course, we peeked back into some of the vernals on the way out and photographed a few more Woods.
That was our Tuesday night. We doubled our species count for 2020 (all the way up to SIX now!) and while it wasn't Big Night, it was a chance to see some animals for the first time in a while.
The following Saturday, March 7th, we were invited to take a tour of the Aquarium's Turtle Care facility, a volunteer perk we like to take advantage of every year. We saw the remaining turtle rehabs from this light cold-stunned year. I'm not going to post on social media but I figure the 5 or 6 people who ever look at this blog would like to see a Loggerhead going after a chunk of halibut.
There is nothing we do that is more rewarding than turtle rescue. It sucks sometimes but it is worth it.
By the way, I asked about the Green Turtle that we'd found this year, our only turtle. (You can see that story here.) It turns out, it lived and is now at Sea World and will be released this year. YAY!
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