Watershed Blitz 9-27-14 (Western MA)

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ZantiMissKnit
Posts: 1037
Joined: September 14th, 2012, 9:43 am
Location: Boston area, MA

Watershed Blitz 9-27-14 (Western MA)

Post by ZantiMissKnit »

Mike and I were invited to participate as "specialists" in a watershed blitz put on by the Wild & Scenic Westfield River committee, and were put on the roster as "Frog and Newt Specialists".

With unseasonable temperatures of around 80 degrees, exploring a river and its banks was a pleasant experience. We were assigned about 1 mile of the river and, with a group of 10, we spent almost four hours documenting our finds. We have some familiarity with the river, and what was possible to find there, and our only surprise was the lack of newts in any stage.

Here are a few things we did find:

Two-lined salamander (Eurycea bislineata). We recorded a couple dozen of these, both adults and larvae, but the numbers went beyond that, with the ones that got away without photos.

ImageDSCN9439 by ZantiMissKnit, on Flickr

ImageDSCN9442 by ZantiMissKnit, on Flickr

The thick woods had a good cover of leaf-litter, making it difficult to get photographs of the frogs that were jumping around. I did manage this one of a gorgeous northern green frog (Lithobates clamitans melanota).

ImageDSC_0005 by ZantiMissKnit, on Flickr

Considering that part of our route included a place where we know toads breed every spring, I was surprised to only turn up one American Toad (Anaxyrus americanus). Of course, they may be heading toward their hibernation spot, being this late in the year.

ImageDSCN9455 by ZantiMissKnit, on Flickr

I think that the crown jewels of this particular area are the erythristic eastern red-backed salamanders (Plethodon cinereus). Sure, it might be one of the most common vertebrates in Massachusetts, but these are quite gorgeous:

ImageDSCN9451 by ZantiMissKnit, on Flickr

ImageDSCN9457 by ZantiMissKnit, on Flickr

ImageDSCN9456 by ZantiMissKnit, on Flickr

We saw the regular variety of redbacks as well:

ImageDSCN9448 by ZantiMissKnit, on Flickr

ImageDSC_0006 by ZantiMissKnit, on Flickr

A couple of YoY garters rounded out the herps we found:

ImageDSCN9468 by ZantiMissKnit, on Flickr

ImageDSCN9458 by ZantiMissKnit, on Flickr

We found a few non-herps as well, such as some sculpins:

ImageSculpin by ZantiMissKnit, on Flickr

One of our volunteers had this hitchhiker on his hat.

ImageOligocentria semirufescens (Red-washed Prominent) by ZantiMissKnit, on Flickr

After the walk, everyone met back in the town's community center to share our finds with the organizer and the twelve other groups that participated in their fields of interest. One of the happiest things to report was that very little was found in the way of litter, and most of that was roadside trash (not in the river itself), and there was very little in the way of invasive plants. While we didn't knock 'em dead with a large quantity of species or any rare species, we were able to give them a good idea of the herps that live along the river. I know there are more -- I've seen northern duskies at other parts of the river, as well as red-spotted newts and efts. I'm sure there are others that we just haven't seen yet.

I'll leave you with some habitat shots that were taken at earlier visits.

ImageDSCN8318 by ZantiMissKnit, on Flickr

ImageDSC_0084 by ZantiMissKnit, on Flickr

ImageDSC_0085 by ZantiMissKnit, on Flickr

ImageDSCN1167 by ZantiMissKnit, on Flickr

ImageDSCN1201 by ZantiMissKnit, on Flickr
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ZantiMissKnit
Posts: 1037
Joined: September 14th, 2012, 9:43 am
Location: Boston area, MA

Re: Watershed Blitz 9-27-14 (Western MA)

Post by ZantiMissKnit »

Since we weren't done with our day in Western MA yet, we went to a reservation further down the road to give a quick explore. Our only herp was a pickerel frog; however, we did find evidence of moose:

ImageMoose Tracks by ZantiMissKnit, on Flickr

My shoe is a women's US Size 7, just for scale, measuring just under 10". The Tracking Team had reported moose prints along the watershed, so this wasn't a huge surprise.
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mike h
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Joined: May 14th, 2012, 1:29 pm
Location: Boston, Ma

Re: Watershed Blitz 9-27-14 (Western MA)

Post by mike h »

An excellent write-up from a very rewarding day!
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Kyle from Carolina
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Joined: May 3rd, 2012, 8:12 pm
Location: western MA and NC

Re: Watershed Blitz 9-27-14 (Western MA)

Post by Kyle from Carolina »

Sweet. I never get tired of seeing those erythristic red-backs. The only time I've ever seen them was in western Mass. and I look forward to seeing them again. Do you notice an absence of the lead-back phase of cinereus in the locales with erythristic individuals? Somebody told me that they typically don't co-occur in the same spot and this held true in the spot we found them.

Also, wetland margins in early spring (before vegetation builds up) is a good spot to find moose sheds.
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ZantiMissKnit
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Joined: September 14th, 2012, 9:43 am
Location: Boston area, MA

Re: Watershed Blitz 9-27-14 (Western MA)

Post by ZantiMissKnit »

I never heard that, Kyle, but now I want to look through my records for that spot.
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