2023 Maine Big Night # 4

April 25th, Maine Big Night # 4 was a bust of a night with only one member of our team going out to monitor the amphibians. And, he saw 1 Spring Peeper total! I think the temperature played a role in this poor amphibian showing. The actual temperature was 42F with a feel-like temperature of 38F.

2023 Maine Big Night # 3

April 23rd, Maine Big Night # 3 was eventful. I, unfortunately, played hooky tonight. But, my teammates saw the following species: 1 Bullfrog, 8 Spotted Salamanders, 8 Pickerel Frogs, and 34 Spring Peepers. The nighttime temp was about 48F.

Maine Big Night #2 Video of Spring Peepers Peeping and a Northern Two-lined Salamander wriggling

Ahhhh... Spring...there is nothing like the din of Spring Peepers peeping! But along with frogs, there are the salamanders. One of whom, the Northern Two-lined Salamander, has a characteristic wriggle when disturbed! They can really move fast while not using their legs, and they look like little snakes as they escape. Enjoy!

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.

A loon has arrived...and so have the peepers and mosquitoes!

 It was a stunning day...We awakened to a loon calling and peepers peeping! Life is so much happier when springtime gets into full swing...Although, the darned mosquitoes are already sucking our blood! For the second year in a row, the mosquitoes have awakened from their slumber before the blackflies. Don't they know that they aren't supposed to start their season until after the blackflies are done with their month of biting? It used to be that blackflies visited us from May to June, and then the mosquitoes would come out. Ugh to Global Warming! Here is an interesting NPR article about how the seasons have changed for blackflies, mosquitoes, and deer flies.

2023 Maine Big Night #1

Maine Big Night is citizen science at its most fun! I am part of a group who is doing amphibian migration monitoring (of frogs and salamanders). Who doesn't like rescuing amphibians, to help them cross roads to get to the other side, so they can reach water for breeding? If you haven't tried it, now is the time!

Before you decide to go out on your own, you must register, do a bit of online training, pass an amphibian knowledge quiz, be savvy of road safety, and sign a safety form. The link is in the bolded first three words of the paragraph above!

We enter data and submit it each night we go out. What are you waiting for? Click the link above and start having some springtime fun while helping to conserve wildlife!

DATA ENTRY for April 6, 2023

Our information tally for tonight was: 

Certified Volunteers: 3 (Laurie,Kathy,Paul)

Volunteers: Start time 9:30pm / Volunteers End time 10:35 for 2 and 11:15 for 1.

Starting Temperature: 42F    Ending Temperature: 43F

Precipitation: Light drizzle from 9:30pm-10:00pm   The road is wet.

Traffic Tally:  11 cars

Species Live: 16 Spring Peepers   

Species Dead:  1 Wood Frog, 3 Spring Peepers

Species Injured: None

And, here are me and my buddy, Kathy, in our gear as we search for salamanders and frogs. We have another principal volunteer for the site, Caroline, who was not able to be with us tonight.

Our new volunteer at this site is Paul, who lives next door to the tiny pond we are working at. I didn't get a photo of him, but he was the Pied Piper of Peepers as he found all of the live peepers who were hoppity hopping in the neighborhood of his driveway which was within our survey zone!

Ice Out on Caesar Pond

Yay! Ice Out has finally occurred today! I was off by 9 days from my prediction of March 27th. Ha! It was slow going as the ice waited until it was super windy earlier in the week, which definitely helps in moving and melting the ice. Here is my Ice Out chart for the last 23 years:

Ice Out Definition: the disappearance of ice from the surface of a body of water (such as a lake) as a result of thawing.

Snow Total for the 2022-2023 Season

 We had a pretty good year for snow, after all, with a total of 84" for the season. We often get a good dump of snow in April, but looking a the next 15 days of weather I believe we are done with snow for the season. Below is my snow total chart for the last 23 years. I consider a good year to be 75" or above.

American Woodcock peenting

MaineNatureDiary · 230323 American Woodcock Peenting

 This evening, I went out looking for amphibians for a Maine Big Night survey. That part of the evening was a bust. But, Caroline, my companion for the survey, heard a woodcock peenting. My hearing is not the best, so she had to point me in the direction of the sound. Eventually, I heard it myself and was able to record a short snippet before a car passed by.

It is breeding season for woodcocks, and the easiest way to find them is to listen for the "Peent" call while the males are on the ground. At dawn and dusk, males perform their mating display flight where they spiral upward into the sky, and back down again. Caroline actually heard and saw the display flight of a couple of woodcocks this evening. They display in fields and openings in the forest.

This is one of a couple of photos that I took when we spied a woodcock in our woods in 2005.

Woodcocks eat earthworms and other invertebrates that they find in the soil. They will nest on the ground and it is important for the female to be perfectly camouflaged. Their coloration is key to rarely being seen in the forest. Click here to gain more knowledge about the American Woodcock.

Grackles at the feeder, Red-winged Blackbirds, and Robin Redbreast

Note that this is an old photo as I didn't get a chance to photograph the grackles today.

We saw the first grackles of springtime at the feeder today.

I used an old photo of the red-winged blackbird as I did not get a photo today.

And, red-winged blackbirds flew in with them. I heard a blackbird calling over at the pond. The call of the red-winged blackbirds is one of my favorites and really tells me that spring has sprung.

I also saw the first robin of the season poking around in a small part of the front yard that is free of snow.