That's the first thing that popped into my head, but I quickly dismissed it as being too far of a long shot. That was pretty stupid on my part for a few reasons. First, they wouldn't be the first uncommon animals (or even amphibians) to be documented at this site. Second, I was running under some ignorant, tainted memory that they were sort of restricted to the northern half of Bristol Co; I thought the closest record was Taunton. Turns out there are records for several towns and cities close by, including Dartmouth. Third, even if it is a long shot, it's highly unscientific to dismiss the possibility based on that alone.
Overwintering spotteds is probably more likely. The spots appeared yellowish to me, but I didn't bother to catch one and the pictures don't clarify things much. I also think that marbled larvae would have been much larger at this time in the year than the larvae I found.
Chris
--- On Fri, 4/6/12, Jane Sears Pierce <jlspierce@aol.com> wrote:
From: Jane Sears Pierce <jlspierce@aol.com>
Subject: [vernalpool] Salamander with legs
To: vernalpool@yahoogroups.com
Date: Friday, April 6, 2012, 8:59 AM
You say that you found salamander larvae with all four limbs developed? It sounds like you might have found a marbled salamander pool... great find!
Jane
-----Original Message-----
From: Chris Rezendes <dudemcrude@yahoo.com>
To: vernalpool <vernalpool@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Thu, Apr 5, 2012 11:07 pm
Subject: Re: [vernalpool] so very sorry!
Don't feel too bad. I've made more embarrassing mistakes in this group, I think, and they didn't have anything to do with technology.
Following the group this season, it's somewhat comforting and also somewhat disconcerting to see that the odd level of activity isn't restricted to southern Bristol Co. In some parts of New Bedford, the wood frogs were out in full force as early as March 12. In others, I still haven't seen any activity at all. In the spots where they had been active, they were gone by the 17th. I've heard peepers at every single spot I've checked so far this spring, but in none of the spots have I heard more than 2 or 3 males at a time. Clearly I'm not alone here.
Yesterday in New Bedford I found 3 spotted salamander larvae with all 4 limbs developed, but I haven't seen any adults or egg masses in any of the pools I normally check. This particular pool is normally difficult to access (so I only check it once or twice a season out of laziness), but the lack of rain made it very easy to get to. I'm guessing the warm weather a couple weeks ago really sped up the development of what few eggs were produced this year.
This has also been a strange spring for reptiles... haven't seen any spotted turtles yet, despite them being very common this time of year at a couple of my spots. I've also only seen one snake all year (eastern garter for those interested) and it was in Taunton on the 23rd. Typically I start finding snakes the second week of March in New Bedford, then about 10-14 days later further inland, weather dependent.
This has been the least fun spring I've had in a long time.
Chris
--- On Thu, 4/5/12, matt burne <mattburne@gmail.com> wrote:
From: matt burne <mattburne@gmail.com>
Subject: [vernalpool] so very sorry!
To: "listserve" <vernalpool@yahoogroups.com>
Date: Thursday, April 5, 2012, 9:17 PM
Oi, new smart phone and incompetent operator. My sincere apologies.
But there really is a lot of algae out there (oi)
Matt
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.