Bees, Spring Peepers, Woodcocks and Salamanders All Have Spring Fever

This July 6, 2013 photo, taken at the wildlife garden at the Brown Family Environmental Center, shows what we have to look forward to.  (Photo by Don Comis)

I had more first signs of spring, firsts for me anyway, on this wonderful spring-like day today.  My Nature day began this afternoon seeing not only purple crocuses in bloom in my neighbor's garden, but also two bees buzzing them and nearby yellow flowers that have bloomed for weeks now.

That made me decide that my next trip should be to the wildlife garden at the Brown Family Environmental Center. Of course, there were no flowers blooming there to attract bees, butterflies and moths.  I had jumped the gun!

But then, amidst the numerous chirps of birds, a loud chorus broke through and I finally realized these were not birds but frogs, likely spring peepers.

I'm also hearing of sightings of woodcocks doing their peenting call and mating dances, the closest one being at Honey Run Falls park.  All the reports in Ohio place the dance as between 8 and 8:30 p.m.  So I plan to visit that park and the Brown Center's north and south sides by 8 p.m. soon.

And if it's raining when I'm at the Brown Center, I may just head to the vernal pool there--conditions seem right for the mass salamander migration each evening from tonight through Friday, with Thursday seeming best.

The harsh winter here has delayed  both the woodcocks and the salamanders, giving me a chance not to miss either for the first time in my life!

Tips from DNR Expert for Seeing Mass Salamander Migration

Longtail salamander on his way to freedom after release from my container, along the Kokosing River in Millwood, Ohio, on August 7, 2013.  (Photo by Don Comis)

After getting tips from Jim McCormac, with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, (JimMcCormac.blogspot.com), I'm convinced for the first time that I will see the mass salamander migration when it occurs at Kenyon College.

I wrote to him on his blog last night and this morning, here was his thorough answer:

"Above 50 degrees is best, although the animals will move in smaller numbers in the 40's. It doesn't matter if it is actually raining, just that it has recently and the ground is wet. This often means being out in the rain, though. Usually amphibians are moving by 9 pm if conditions are right, and may continue all night if conditions remain warm and wet enough."

This means that I was wrong that it had to be raining during the migration.  It also means that the  migration goes on from about 9 p.m. to just before daybreak.  So I can arrive anytime during that six hour window.  All I have to do is keep an eye out on a day with rain in the forecast and a temperature of 40 to 50 degrees or more, the more the better, during the night.

So, for example, this Friday is promising as far as rain during the day probably leaving the ground wet that night and a high of 54 degrees Fahrenheit.  But, the night low will be below 40 degrees F.  That night, around 8 p.m., I'll have to go outside and see if the ground is wet from the day's rains and check the temperature.  If it stays 54 degrees F, say, at 8 p.m., it would be worth a try.  But it doesn't sound like a night that a mass migration will continue for six hours.

That might mean I have to try a two hour watch on two or three nights to see the biggest migration, but that's doable, compared to staying out all night and doing that more than few times!

Hope for Salamander Migration Soon

One of the first salamanders I've captured and learned to photograph as they "escape" the container I place them in.  I photographed this northern red on July 28, 2013, along Little Jelloway Creek near Apple Valley.  (Photo by Don Comis)

Probably the first frog I've photographed successfully.  This northern leopard frog was quite a ham, once I learned I couldn't use the salamander release trick to photograph him or her.  He would just jump out of sight when the container was opened.  So I just followed him along the banks of the Kokosing River in Millwood, Ohio, until he "froze",  hoping I wouldn't see him.  (Photographed on August 7, 2013 by Don Comis)

Jim McCormac's blog last night gave me hope that I still have a shot at seeing the mass migration of salamanders to vernal pools where they mate and lay eggs.  He confirms that this tough winter has delayed the mass migration, while individual salamanders and frogs have made the trip.

But the mass migration triggered by the combination of night, rain, and warm temperatures hasn't happened yet.  He believes it will happen in a week or two.  Right now, I'm guessing Thursday or Friday, based on weather forecasts.

In taking a back route the other day to a pond near my house to photograph a flock of redhead ducks, canvasbacks, and scaups, I found a mini-pond near wet woodland near the big pond.  This mini-pond is much bigger than the vernal pool I'm looking at in Gambier, Ohio.  Last year, I dismissed it when it looked only like a drainage gully.  The major snows of this winter must have swelled this vernal pool, if that's what it is.

I can confirm it by asking questions of the neighbors of the pool or by checking for eggs or waiting to see if it dries up in late summer as vernal pools do.   If it turns out to be one, it would be the first vernal pool I found on m own.  And it will be in my neighborhood, which I wished for.

This was the best I could do as I hid from this skittish flock of redheads, canvasbacks, and scaups on a recent evening.  The possible vernal pool in my neighborhood is near this full-sized pond.  (Photo by Don Comis)