Night Maneuvers. 3-28-2021

 My friend's son called going out to look for amphibians at night "night maneuvers". And so it shall be called that for evermore. Brilliant.

Our Sunday started off with day maneuvers, though. Andrea was asked to co-host the Urban Nature Walk with our friend Jef. An honor, indeed, but the weather wasn't in our favor. It was supposed to be a salamander walk but the local Ambystoma hadn't moved and it was too cold for anyone to be under rocks. As I often say, thank goodness for Redbacks. I had been nervous about them since I'd only seen one thus far in 2021, but they were up and abundant. A couple of shy ones:

After explaining how there is no larval stage of these amphibians (the offspring are just miniature versions of the adults) we got to prove it.

Another dipsy doodle.

Another friend's son is an avid animal lover, especially reptiles and amphibians, and he was delighted to contribute with our first Leadback phase of cinerus on the year!

I added an adult Leadback later on, but that was it for our cold-blooded finds.

We heard Peepers and a few lonely Northern Leopard Frogs but never got our eyes on them. Still, I always learn a ton from Jef and the other participants and really enjoy myself hanging with the crew. I look forward to future walks!

Know what we'd missed? Drenching rains. Well, they hit by the time our walk ended. That's a good thing because it would wake the salamanders up and it would make our evening more fruitful. We'd made plans with Teá and our annual crew of "Big Nighters" to see if things were moving at the Haunted Swamp. Andrea and I had gone solo a couple of weeks earlier but this was our annual excursion.

It was a little drizzly but the heavy rain had subsided before we got there. We could hear Peepers from the parking lot and that was very encouraging. We hit the trails and were very surprised to see our First-of-Year Four-toed Salamander.

We usually encounter these at the far end of this trail, at our turn-around spot. Needless to say, we kept a close look at the ground from here on out.

Like the last time, Wood Frogs were plentiful.

Watch your step! There's a Redback strolling on the path!

Two American Toads (our FOY) were found simultaneously. This is the one I saw. Handsome devil.

We heard 'em, but we couldn't see 'em! Until someone saw this wee orange Peeper, another FOY!

Teá scored our first (and for me, only) Spotted Salamander, a beautiful, bulging guy.

We failed on Fairy Shrimp in 2020. Here is 2021's model.

This little Green Frog (yes, our FOY) was almost impossible to see with the naked eye, even with fingers pointing right at him. What a happy find!

Got time for another Woodie? There were some very pretty ones out!

For me, the highlight of the night was our First of Year Bullfrog, a massive fellow that sat there for pictures, then jumped between somebody's legs and swam in a puddle like a sullen teenager. Gorgeous specimen, attitude aside.

Another Redback out for a stroll.

Our search for Blue-spotted Salamanders came up empty, as did our hopes for Big Night but at eight species, 5 FOYs, a ton of fun, and time with good friends, we have no complaints. My pal Ryan did  get movement closer to home that night. As we got absolutely drenched getting back to the car, I suspect things might have moved more after we left, but hey... not bad for a work-night.

I leave you with two more Wood Frogs... just one of the five anuran species of the evening.