2025 Maine Big Night #6

Maine Big Night #6. Yay! Our entire team was on the road assisting amphibians tonight.

LH1Bowd (This year's participants are me, Paul, and Caroline)

April 25 - Start time: 7:55pm.     End Time: 9:14pm

Certified Volunteers - 3

Uncertified Volunteers - 0

Starting Temp: 55F.      Ending Temp:  53F

Precipitation: Rain

The road is wet

Traffic Tally:  11 vehicles

Species Live: 41 Spring Peepers, 1 American Bullfrog, 2 American Toads, 2 Pickerel Frogs, 1 Eastern Newt

Species Dead: 0

Species Injured: 1 Spring Peeper

Paul with his sign and traffic cone to alert drivers of our presence on the road.
 

American Toad

American Toad (I had to take a side view photo as the toad told me that the other photo made his butt look too big!)

Eastern Newt

2025 Maine Big Night #2

 We had a very good Maine Big Night. The rain stopped before we arrived at our survey location and there was just a drizzle left over. There were so many spotted salamanders (and most were of good size). The spring peepers are so difficult to see on the road as they are so small, although Paul found the biggest one that he had ever surveyed. The pickerel frogs were very energetic and are large. And, in the pond we heard a cacophony of mainly spring peepers calling with the occasional wood frog. (Photo courtesy of team member Caroline)

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LH1Bowd (This year's participants are me, Paul, and Caroline)

April 15 - Start time: 7:55pm.     End Time: 9:15pm

Certified Volunteers - 3 (Paul, Laurie, Caroline)

Uncertified Volunteers - 0

Starting Temp: 46F.      Ending Temp:  45F

Precipitation: Drizzle

The road is wet.

Traffic Tally:  21 vehicles

Species Live: 34 Spring Peepers, 3 Pickerel Frogs, 1 Wood Frog, 13 Spotted Salamanders, 2 Newts

Species Dead: 6 Spring Peepers, 2 Spotted Salamanders

Species Injured: 0

2024 Maine Big Night # 6

 LH1-Bowd

April 28-  Start Time:  8:10pm.    End Time: 9:10pm

Certified Volunteers - 1  (Paul)

Uncertified Volunteers - 0

Starting Temperature: 49F    Ending Temperature: 49F

Precipitation: Fog

The road is damp.

Traffic Tally: 15 Cars

Species Live: 7 Pickerel Frogs, 13 Spring Peepers

Species Dead: 1 Spring Peeper

Species Injured: 0

Notes: There was no rain as it had stopped by 6:15pm.

2024 Maine Big Night # 5

 LH1-Bowd

April 12 - Start time: 8pm.     End Time: 9:06pm

Certified Volunteers - 3 (Kathy, Paul, Laurie)

Uncertified Volunteers - 0

Starting Temperature: 50F.      Ending Temperature:  48F

Precipitation: Fog

The road is wet.

Traffic Tally: 14

Species Live: 18 Pickerel Frogs, 37 Spring Peepers, 1 Green Frog, 6 Spotted Salamanders, 2 Red Efts

Species Dead: 2 Spring Peepers

Species Injured: 1 Eastern Newt

NOTES: With all the rain we had overnight into this morning, we figure that there was lots of amphibian movement. The spring peepers were much more in abundance in the pond than there were last night.

Here is a photo of the injured Eastern Newt. Note that its length spans one hand. It got run over by a car.

Here is a closer view of the Eastern Newt showing the red circles surrounded by black halos on its back.

And, an important characteristic in identifying salamanders is to look to see if they have any patterning on their belly. The Eastern Newt has a yellow belly with black spots.

Here is a photo of a spring peeper from tonight. You can sort of see the X marking on its back.

2024 Maine Big Night # 4

 LH1-Bowd

April 11 - Start Time: 8pm.     End Time: 9:56pm

Certified Volunteers - 3 (Kathy, Paul, Laurie)

Uncertified Volunteers - 0

Starting Temperature: 43F.    Ending Temperature: 43F

Precipitation: Fog

The road is wet

Traffic Tally: 11

Species Live - 1  Pickerel Frog, 65 Spring Peepers, 1 American Toad, 10 Spotted Salamanders

Species Dead - 15 Spring Peepers

NOTES: The rain stopped at around 7:15pm, thus the road was wet. We just had fog the entire time of our survey.  This is the first night that we have heard spring peepers, and just a few were calling. The salamanders were very active as were some of the peepers. A few of the spring peepers were a bit sluggish. And, it seemed to me as though the spring peepers were a bit smaller than what we saw last year.

Our neighbor, and two of her children, came out to see our progress. Thank you to her daughter who held the flashlight while I photographed this spotted salamander. I think one of my favorite features of this amphibian is that there are spots on their legs as well as on their head and back.

And, here is the lone Pickerel Frog that we found.

2023 Maine Big Night #2

 WOW! What a night we had! It was raining and warmer than last time, so the amphibians were really on the move. And, they (mostly peepers) were very vocal. If you want to hear some of the different calls, click on North Woods Frog Call Phenology. Cool stuff!

DATA ENTRY for April 17, 2023

Our information tally for tonight was: 

Certified Volunteers: 3 (Laurie,Kathy,Paul)

Volunteers: Start time 7:30pm / Volunteers End time 9:45.

Starting Temperature: 46F    Ending Temperature: 46F

Precipitation: Light rain drizzle from 8pm-9:15pm   The road is wet.

Traffic Tally:  18 cars

Species Live: 1 American Bullfrog, 12 Pickerel Frogs, 74 Spring Peepers, 7 Spotted Salamanders, and 1 Northern Two-Lined Salamander   

Species Dead:  1 Pickerel Frog, 2 Spring Peepers

Species Injured: 1 Spotted Salamander

Spring Peeper bonanza tonight! Spring Peepers have a characteristic "X" on their backs. They are the most abundant of the frogs that you hear right now! Did you know that they are the smallest of Maine's frogs? Females get up to 1.5" long!

Pickerel frogs are also numerous in our area and it was so much fun to see so many of them. Did you know that Pickerel frogs have toxic secretions? If you handle one, wash your hands before touching other amphibians so as not to spread the toxin! You don't want to inadvertently kill other frogs or salamanders. By the way, the Pickerel Frog's call is like that of a creaking door or a 2-syllable "ee-yah".

I didn't get a photo of the Bullfrog that was helped across the road tonight, but here is a photo of one that I took several years ago. Notice the ridge of skin that runs from the eyes and down around the tympanum. This is a characteristic of bullfrogs as opposed to Green Frogs that have a ridge (dorso lateral fold) that runs from the back of the eye, straight back almost to the vent (cloacal opening) of the frog.

Spotted Salamanders were so big! They were all crossing the road and moving away from the pond, so I can only assume that they had finished breeding. They are our only yellow-spotted salamander. 

For the remainder of the year, these nocturnal beauties can be found hiding under leaves, logs, stones, and in the burrows of tiny mammals. Here we found one under a rotting log alongside a trail in the forest. Remember that when lifting a log you must put it down gently, exactly in the same position as you found it.

We were also lucky to have a Northern Two-lined Salamander crossing the road! It has such a pretty coppery color with its two dark stripes that run the length of their body. Did you know that salamanders do not have lungs? They breathe through their moist skin, which is why they live in creeks and streams, as well as under rotting logs and in muddy areas as they have to stay moist. They are fast and extremely wriggly when they move.