Fourteen Deer but No Salamanders Yet

On my way to the vernal pool at sunrise today, I saw this herd of seven deer trying to figure me out.  (Photo by Don Comis) on

 
With light snow overnight, conditions aren't exactly right for the vernal pool show.  But it's always fun going there.  I made the trip again early this morning.  Again I was greeted by wild turkeys gobbling.  And I had a staring contest with a herd of 7 deers that were grazing in a cornfield on leftovers from last year's harvest.

And a mockingbird showed me the way out of there.  This time he had a buddy, a female I'll bet.  What I like about mockingbirds is that rather than hide from you, they show themselves to let you know you're not welcome in their territory.  So you can't miss them.

It was very cold at first, but by the time I got to the vernal pool the sun had risen over the horizon and lit up the Kokosing River and the vernal pool,  just 5 to 20 feet from the river.

I was back at my car at 8:50 a.m. Daylight Savings Time and had plenty of time to shop for groceries.  By around 11 a.m., I was back on Apple Valley Drive when I saw another herd of 7 deer grazing in the spillway area of the Apple Valley Lake dam.  At the same moment, two bluebirds flew, reminding me of the wildlife closer to home.

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.

Anticipating Spring

It would be hard to recognize this vernal pool, especially in winter,without knowing it's by this bench which has an apt quotation from my favorite Nature writer, Aldo Leopold:  "Rest cries the sawyer, and we pause for breath."  (Photo by Don Comis)

My first two black vultures of the season, resting by a deer carcass (not in photo).  (Photo by Don Comis)

I just had to write this early today since I am so exhilarated from an outing this morning at Kenyon College.  It's March 7 and I finally started toward my goal of visiting a vernal pool daily in March at the Brown Family Environmental Center.

Boy did it pay off--although it's too early yet to see spotted salamanders and other amphibians marching to the pool.  Even as I drove on Rt. 308 toward Gambier, I saw a huge flock of large birds I thought were wild turkeys grazing in corn stubble, near New Gambier Road.  This is probably the same field where someone saw a snowy owl on February 1.

I should have stopped but didn't.  When I got to the parking area by the Miller Observatory, I was confronted by a territorial mockingbird.

On the way to the pool, I have the privilege of passing a corridor of bluebird and tree swallow birdhouses.  I saw five bluebirds, with one couple checking out a home.  A mockingbird, possibly the one who warned me or just another bossy mockingbird, chased a bluebird.

I heard and saw many birds and tracks, including possible coyote tracks.

On my way home, I even saw my first song sparrow singing from the top of a crabapple tree on a lawn in my neighborhood.