from 4/25- Frog follow-up

Last night I stayed at Codi and Jimmy's. After telling them all about the frog experience I had at school, we all (Kate too :) ) decided to go for a night hike to the wetlands behind their house. the sound was deafening. Pacific Chorus Frogs (Pseudacris regilla) were all singing so that we had a hard time hearing each other. Occasional (and introduced) Bullfrogs (Rana catesbeiana) made their voices hear too, but they fortunately did not overwhelm the natives.

I caught another frog when we got to the edge of the water because I wanted to double check the species... How fun indeed! I don't think I did too much of this when I was younger so I am happy to make up for lost time now.

from 4/24, Wednesday Ecology Club

Amphibians… that was the mantra.

I just passed the first level of the Kamana Naturalist Training Program. Though not too difficult, there was a bit of introductory work to do. And the first steps in any journey are often the hardest… momentum is difficult to create.

Along with my completion certificate came a hand-written note from the program director. She reminded me that the spring brings life, vitality, and energy. She wrote, “In spring, the blood pumps in your body like rivers.” No kidding… we had less snow this year so the rivers are already pumping our tremendous volumes of water. And the spring rains, although recently, short bursts, flood the creeks and saturate the rivers.

She also wrote that this is the time for amphibians. On the heels of the amphibian class I took earlier in the month, this seemed poignant. I decided that we would go amphibian searching during Ecology Club in the pond behind the school. We tested the water quality in terms of pH and temperature… now let’s see what life is there!

 It didn’t take long. We found egg attached to the bottom of rocks. We found frog tadpoles, we found salamander larva (tadpoles with fuzzy “gills” and arms too). We found SIX FROGS too! Though they were brown and green, they were almost certainly all Pacific Chorus Frogs (Pseudacris regilla ).

It was awesome and the boys wanted to go for another round of exploration and dip nets after we took a break. Who am I to say no?!

At the end, one boy told me that he was happy that the girls left because he wouldn’t have done this work (exploration, horsing around, getting wet and dirty, and discovering if the ladies had stayed. When I asked him why, he told me that he likes one of the girls. Ahh…. To be an eighth grader again! Tomorrow, I may tell him that she may even like him more if he shows that he is into doing this work!

Another boy said, “I didn’t think Ecology Club would be this fun. I’m glad I’m here” I’m glad too!

A high school boy also joined us. He does some after-school mentoring and teaching, so it was great that he joined us. I got to mentor him in Stinging Nettle uses and the amphibian stuff while he mentored and was a good role-model for the junior high boys too. Multi-level male mentorship… jeez it’s powerful stuff. I'm thankful for the power of the masculine. But I am especially thankful to the amphibians for making this learning and growing possible. Like you metamorphose from eggs to water to air-breathers, we grow too from babies to boys to men. Thank for for the example!

Amphibian Class Field Trip- Stimson Reserve

It's true. I signed up for a class because I have not had much work during the days. I did it for the lichens and mosses and now I've done it with amphibians. Just me and a whole slew of nice and kind retired folks delving into the slimy world of amphibians!

Frogs, Toads, Salamanders, Newts... those were on the menu. No, we didn't eat anything!

When I was in 8th grade, my science teacher, Mr. Anderson, gave me a newt because I thought they were so cool. I brought it home on a Thursday, it was dead the following Sunday night. I obviously didn't study its needs well enough. Sorry about that, newt. My brother, ages five, even asked in such a cute way, "Dave, where's the newt, Dave?" Dead and buried in the backyard.

So this was some redemption. and yet another taxonomy to study. Knowing very little, except seeing a tree frog attached to my window at age ten, I grew up with very little exposure to amphibians. There were reptiles about in southern California, but I didn't engage with too many moist-skinned creatures. Maybe I didn't hang out in the right outdoor spaces, maybe development in Irvine drove them all to local extinction.

After learning about so many local species in four hours of class time, we had a three hour field excursion to find them. As such, we went to a new place for me, the Stimson Family Nature Reserve, near Lake Whatcom. Some older trees in there made for rich habitat.

You find salamanders by flipping over rocks and logs... but make sure to put them back. After ten or more unsuccessful attempts, I finally saw a large one! My first instinct was to leave it alone, but I wanted to have a field specimen that we could all look at. So I grabbed it and brought it to the group. I finally caught a salamander in the wild. It looked like this:

 

(retrieved on April 12, 2013 from: http://www.wildpnw.com/2011/02/21/the-western-red-backed-salamander/#.UWikNqKkofQ)

(retrieved on April 12, 2013 from: http://www1.dnr.wa.gov/nhp/refdesk/herp/html/feat_plve.html)

Why, it's the Western Red-backed Salamander (Plethadon vehiculum) of course! In Bellingham, it is more yellow-backed than red-backed, but it is indeed the same species. It was about three inches long, from snout to vent (don't include the tail in the measurement). Though it was wriggly and fast-moving, we all got  a chance to see the dorsal stripe and even the "knee pads" what were the same color. Cool!

I caught a later, smaller one later in the day and may have injured its tail. I feel bad that my zeal for nabbing it may have caused injury, but it's leap from my notebook (at waist height) to the forest floor also didn't seem to bother it much. i should have put it back where I found it, but I was so excited to show the group that I tried to catch up and show them. A good learning experience; leave it where I find it!

Later we came across this Ensatina (Ensatina eschscoltzii). The constriction at the base of the tail is a characteristic that the tail will come off if grabbed by a predator. The tail will detach and wiggle in order to attract the attention of anything that is trying to eat the salamander.

We also went past a pond and someone found a Pacific Chorus Frog (Hyla regilla or Pseudacris regilla). We saw how brown it was compared to some of the greener individuals we studied. Cool! It brings my childhood back around for some closure. How wonderful!

What a great outdoor place to explore. As the sun faded away we ended the day happy and complete after having found some of the species we had studied. Here’s to an introduction to amphibians: Cheers!