A Trail of Three Wetlands

I had quite a weekend attending the first two of 13 events scheduled for this year's 13th Annual “Explore the Nature of Knox County" program. 

On Saturday, I went to the "Trail of Three Wetlands" at the Brown Family Environmental Center and learned more about the vernal pool I had been monitoring for salamander and other amphibian breeding migrations.  Tour leader Siobhan Fennessy, co-director of the Brown Center and a Kenyon biology professor, showed us the eggs of spotted salamanders laid on rocks underwater, proof there had been a spotted salamander migration that I missed.  She said there is concern that vernal pools are on the decline because of tree cutting and other land management changes, which could be very harmful to amphibians, especially salamanders.

She also said concerned landowners can create vernal pools by excavating in the right locations.

The other two wetlands were a skunk cabbage seep fed by the downhill flow of groundwater and a wet meadow that was restored by fencing out cattle.

Sunday's event was at the Ramser Arboretum, a nature preserve about 10 miles from Apple Valley and open to the public.  I'll write about that later this week, along with a related preserve on Proper Road, even closer to Apple Valley.

For a complete schedule of events and directions, go to the Owl Creek Conservancy's website (http://owlcreekconservancy.org) and click on "Upcoming Events".

Siobhan Fennessy (center, in green jacket) at the "Skunk Cabbage Seep", the first stop on the "Trail of Three Wetlands".  (Photo by Don Comis)

Skunk Cabbage Seep Wetland.  (Photo by Don Comis)

Siobhan Fennessy shows a Mayapple plant after group leaves the first stop.  (Photo by Don Comis)

Second Wetland:  Vernal Pool.  (Photo by Don Comis)

The white dots on the two rocks are eggs laid by spotted salamanders in the vernal pool at the Brown Center.  (Photo by Don Comis)

Last stop:  Wet Meadow Wetland. (Photo by Don Comis)

Kenyon biology professor Siobhan Fennessy explains that the restored wet meadow looked like the green pasture on the other side of the fence, 10 years ago.  (Photo by Don Comis)

Why Did The Newt Cross the Road?

I learned how to photograph frogs on August 29, 2012, the day I took this picture of a green frog at Bennett Pond in Apple Valley.  By spotting him first from afar and sneaking up on him, I was able to have him pose from 5 feet away.  (Photo by Don Comis)

In two nights, April 2 in Logan County and April 3 in Crawford County, Jim McCormac watched and photographed the following amphibians cross forest floor or paved roads to get to vernal pools to breed:  spotted salamander, smallmouth salamander, red eft larval stage of a red-spotted newt, green frog, northern leopard frog, western chorus frog, and spring peepers.

I went to "my" vernal pool at the Brown Family Environmental Center at Kenyon College tonight, April 7, 2014, and on April 3, and encountered no sign of amphibians.  Except for the frog I heard call near me tonight.

Of the amphibians he photographed, I have only seen--and photographed--the green frog and the northern leopard frog.  But I did that in daytime, late in the summer, post-breeding.  Of course I've heard many spring peepers, including tonight, but none around the vernal pool I've been stalking.

I wasn't going to the vernal pool tonight until I read Jim's April 6 report on his blog.

The bottomline for me is:  Do amphibians still use the vernal pool at the Brown Center?  Last year, I was sure I saw eggs there.  So, I'll keep coming back whenever the ground is wet from rain.

Spring Salamander Migration Any Day Now!

The Kokosing River at sunrise today, a very short distance from the vernal pool the amphibians will soon migrate en masse to.  (Photo by Don Comis)

This morning's view of the vernal pool that reduces snowmelt flow to the Kokosing while providing a safe spring nursery for amphibian eggs.  (Photo by Don Comis)

The great annual migration of spotted and other salamanders is close, I can just smell it in the air, literally.

I took a second trip to the vernal pool at Kenyon College early this morning.  Rain was in the air and the temperature was 37 degrees Fahrenheit.  A night or early morning rain at 40 degrees are two of three main conditions to stir the salamanders and other amphibians out of their muddy hibernation places.

But there was still snow and ice in and around the vernal pool.  Until that melts, it's not going to happen, but when it melts, it won't be long.

Besides the benefits of getting up at 5:30 a.m., I got to see a skunk, hear a bunch of wild turkeys gobbling, see 8 to 13 deer, and get confronted by the local neighborhood watch mockingbird again--in that order.

Two Really Big Shows in March in Ohio

Illustration of woodcock's "Sky Dance" from Aldo Leopold's "Sand County Almanac".

Soon, I hope to visit this vernal pool often, hoping to see migrations of spotted salamanders and other amphibians to the pool from their hibernation areas underground.  They like to lay their eggs in these temporary pools because there aren't fish in them.  This pool is a depression near the Kokosing River that collects snowmelt runoff, helping to prevent flooding of the Kokosing.  (Photographed April 6, 2013, after the migration

After about 45 years, I still remember certain passages from Aldo Leopold's "Sand County Almanac".  One of them is his description of the "Sky Dance" of male woodcocks during mating season, which is April in his native Wisconsin and March in Ohio.

So I was excited to find out last spring that there are woodcocks at the Brown Family Environmental Center at Kenyon College.  I had never seen a woodcock and still haven't, because I forgot they dance in March.  This year I'm remembering.

March also brings the spring migration of spotted salamanders and frogs and other amphibians from their underground hibernation spots to the nearest vernal pool.  I heard this occurs when the first rains of spring falls on a warm morning.   I knew the vernal pond it occurred at on the U.S. Department of Agriculture farm in Maryland where I used to work, and I know a vernal pool at the Brown Center,  but I've never seen that event either, in either state.

I remembered last spring in Ohio but I didn't know that  "warm" can mean about 40 degrees, I thought it meant about 50 degrees.  And I didn't know it might happen in the evening rather than at daybreak.

So I dream of walking through the Brown Center every evening or morning in March.   I know I'll at least make it once a week, starting with March 1 when the Center has its monthly Family Adventure Day, which I always attend anyway!