Lake Creek - Another Sticky Amphibian Watch Sep 15, 2018

Rain, rain and more rain! What an odd summer. We fried with 40 days over 100 F, were declared in drought conditions, yet we have had long periods of rain (or least spotty regional showers) every month. Texas. What can you say?

This month we delayed the amphibian monitoring a week because of heavy rains before the weekend of the 8th, and the water rushing over the dam made it impossible to hear any calling.

Three of us worked together at the dam for monitoring - thanks Reggie and Linda for joining me.

Environmental Conditions (at 19:40):
Air Temp: 25.8C
Water Temp: 26.5C
Sky: 2 (cloudy)
Water Level: MAA+ (Much Above Average - Overflowing) - central half of the dam was still in overflow at a depth of 0.5 to 1.0 inch.
Relative Humidity: 95% up to "Hi" on the meter.

General Observations:
There was no stranded algal matting on the dam, or any debris. It must have all been cleared and washed well down the creek due to earlier flooding. The pond above the dam was completely clear of any algal mats.
The water flow over the dam provided perfect 'fishing' opportunities for the water snakes. On the previous weekend Sue observed and recorded up to eight individuals in the fast-flowing churn at the bottom of the backside of the dam. This Saturday there were several snakes again actively fishing, working the flow areas for stranded minnows and fish fry.

Amphibian/Herp Watch Report:
This was a very quiet night at Lake Creek in terms of amphibian calling. However, the Blanchard's Cricket Frogs must have been busy in previous months because we saw many tiny (about 0.5 cm) individuals hopping around. This was a first, perhaps because the grass and even the sidewalk were both still wet from the continuous rains. Our visit to the limestone wall yielded the expected fat and happy Gulf Coast Toads, and we also got recordings of several Chirping Frogs.
We did take pix of the Nerodia spp. on the dam and Reggie caught a young Texas Brown Snake on the sidewalk for more pix.

The most prominent sightings this month were the very small Blanchard's Cricket Frogs hopping in the grass and all over the sidewalk close to the dam.

In all, two herp species and four amphibian species were documented for this month.

Julkaistu syyskuu 17, 2018 07:36 IP. käyttäjältä