If I were asked if there would be any activity tonight here in Marion, I would have said "no"...High of 44 today..rain changing to snow at 11:30..then snowing pretty hard for a couple hours...then temps dropping to 34 by 5:00 pm....by dark at almost 8:00pm (7:00 pm EST or eastern salamander time), it had started raining lightly and temp was up to 38. It quickly stopped and just remained a misty, foggy night locked in at 40 degrees.
So I dragged myself out just to give a quick check of the site....three hours later I had crossed 64 spotted salamanders (10 or 11 were females, the rest males), 20 wood frogs and a lone spring peeper!!! Unbelievable... a steady stream of 25, and 26 ss the first two hours, slowing to 12 the last hour. One was heading away from the pool. Unfortunately there was one ss fatality right near the end, and two wood frogs before I arrived.
I always wonder why I'm so beat after a night like this....it's because I walk back and forth over a 500' section of road, about two minutes per pass.
Roughly 6 or 7 miles!
You never know what's gonn happen!!!! Hope others had a good night too!
Mike
PS two added bonuses were calling barred owls and a quick glimpse of a weasel crossing the road.
Mike Maurer
Marion, MA
"The time to save a species is while it is still common" Rosalie Edge, Founder of Hawk Mountain Sanctuary
Mike Maurer
Marion, MA
"The time to save a species is while it is still common" Rosalie Edge, Founder of Hawk Mountain Sanctuary
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