Lake Creek Steamy Surprise August Amphibian Watch - Saturday, 8/13

We had just dodged the end of a light rain. I did not expect it to make much difference, but a bit of water was flowing over the dam. It was still steamy and was squishy underfoot.
Three of us had a great time, surprised by all the activity. Thank you Myra and Carolyn for coming out with me this month.

Environmental Conditions (at 20:15):
Air Temp: 24.6C
Water Temp: 29.8C.6C
Sky: 2 (cloudy)
Water Level: MAA++ (overflow)
Relative Humidity: 85%
The area got a half inch or more of rain during the afternoon. This was enough to sweep away all of the algal mats, leaving clear water above the dam and causing a one inch deep flow over about half of the dam top.

General Observations:
At the dam we watched a small Blotched Water Snake set up a hunting spot at the lower edge of the dam, and then I got a video of it catching some dinner.
(Vid on YouTube here: https://youtu.be/j-FJpjNh5iE ).

Amphibian Watch Report:
We visited "The Wall" first to look for chirping frogs. None were seen, but we did find two Gulf Coast Toads and took a photo of one. Above the dam, Blanchard's Cricket Frogs were calling up to full chorus (C3) intermittentaly for the whole monitoring hour. Most interesting for the night, we heard Cliff Chirping Frogs calling (C1) in the woods all around the area. This was a first, as it was more individual calls that ever heard before by far, and not just in limestone, but in terrain with thickets and trees about five to twenty feet from the water. We heard several Gulf Coast Toads (C1) calling across the creek, below the dam, at the end of the monitoring hour (no recording).

Julkaistu elokuu 16, 2016 05:21 IP. käyttäjältä weathergaltx