Lake Creek Crazy Busy Amphibian Watch September 9, 2017

Background street traffic noise was moderate, and the cicadas quieted down after about 15 minutes which should have been in our favor during the ‘silent’ listening periods. However, the wonderful weather must have invited everyone (and their dogs) out to play on the trail Saturday night. We had lots of families walking, lots of bikes going by and then …. wait for it …. kayaks. Seriously? Kayaks? They finally pulled out on the dam as it got dark and walked by on the little bridge. People fishing? Check.
Four other folks turned out and it evolved into a rewarding night. Thank you Myra, Carolyn, Mikael and Kathy for coming out with me this month. Mikael did a great job of outreach with one of the fishing folk.

Environmental Conditions (at 19:45):
Air Temp: 23.8C
Water Temp: 27.4C
Sky: 0 (clear)
Water Level: Above Average
Relative Humidity: 57%
The wind was calm and the air temps lovely. The water temperature was 6C lower that August!
We had a big rain (maybe 6-8 inches at this location) Aug 26-27 due to Hurricane Harvey.

General Observations:
The pond level above the dam was about 6 inches below the top edge and most of the algal mats had been swept over the dam and were long gone way downstream. The limestone bedrock below the dam had been totally scoured by the high flow, with debris caught in the grasses and shrubs up above bedrock level to about 4 feet. The dry limestone and concrete below the dam was bare in most areas except for the drying algae which had covered its surface. There were many large patches of a pink color that I have never seen before.

Amphibian Watch Report:
The Blanchard's Cricket Frogs called intermittently the entire time we were at the monitoring site. Their calling got louder and just a bit more constant later in the evening. There was one large group far away and individuals calling on the right side up from the dam. Kathy caught a young frog for pictures.
Update: Mikael reminded me that several of us heard individual Rio Grande Leopard Frogs on at least two occasions. Kathy got a good recording which you can access in the Comments to this Journal post.
Near the limestone wall, we saw one Gulf Coast Toad squeezed into a crack in the wall , but could not get a good shot. Kathy provided another youngster for a picture. We spotted several chirping frogs in the cracks (have pictures of several individuals and one recording.)

Another herp: we got our first sighting, and a photo, of a Mediterranean House Gecko.
That's all for this month.

Julkaistu syyskuu 13, 2017 06:01 IP. käyttäjältä