While enjoying a peaceful gorgeous day at Lampsons Falls I saw this little guy sitting beside me in a shallow pool of water. It was like he was my side kick taking in all the beauty around us and the sounds of the falls. He sat there as long as I did. He was still there when I left a few hours later.

Our Nature Up North summer naturalist interns Emily and Lydia lead a frog walk this afternoon on the St. Lawrence University Kip Trail in Canton. The group was successful, spotting both bull frogs and green frogs in a wetland off the Little River. 

Spotted a Pickerel frog this afternoon while on the Kip Trail. Took a while to ID between a Northern Leopard Frog or a Pickerel frog but it seems more like a Pickerel frog..any thoughts?

A baby dusky salamander, three red-backed salamanders (2 shown), one frog (possibly wood), and wood frog eggs were spotted in St. Lawrence County between the hours of 1-4 on a sunny day in April!  All herps were found along/near vernal pools!  Red-backed salamanders seemed to be bountiful.  This is in addition to the four photos I posted last week as encounters!

I was exploring the vernal pool at the end of the Kip Trail by flashlight last week, and the spring peepers (Pseudacris crucifer) were deafening. After much searching, I finally spotted one tucked into some fallen cattail stalks. He has a somewhat dubious survival instinct, as he didn't stop calling even when my camera lens was inches from his face. On my way out of the pool, I nearly stepped on two more peepers (second picture). The male (on top) is amplexing the female -- holding on so that he'll have the best chance at fertilizing her eggs when she lays them.

During the Herpetology class's lab period, I spotted two-redbacked salamanders under the same log, one red-backed salamander 5 m from those two, one leadback salamander under a different log, and one red spotted newt under a log.  The class collectively heard spring peepers and caught this wood frog in a minnow trap! This all occurred between 1-4 on a rainy and relatively cold, spring day and all herps were found along the Kip Trail near St. Lawrence University.  Here are some photos to help!

First night that I heard spring peepers, so I headed over to one of the wetlands on the SLU campus adjacent to the little river.  I can't post the audio, but I could hear spring peepers and the occasional woodfrog (of which there may have been quite a few, but they were harder to hear over the roar of the peepers).  You can clearly see that there is still a good deal of ice in the water.  Spring is HERE!

Late June is a great time to explore water plants - a variety of species are flowering this time of year, making finding them easier and even more interesting. During a paddling program today led by Nature Up North intern Maggie, we found a variety of species, including pickerel weed (flowering!), hornwort, ditchmoss, soft-stemmed bullrush, and sensitive fern. We also talked about some water-loving trees that like to grow along the river, such as silver maple, box elder and willow. 

Greeted by sunning frogs and a gushing waterfall, the day was a perfect one to carry out water monitoring procedures along the Grasse River. The team waded into clear water about a foot deep to determine water quality using a number of chemical and physical testing methods. After an hour of sorting through dozens of macroinvertebrates including caddisflies, riffle beetles, and mayflies to analyze species ratios of varying tolerances, the water quality of Hart's Falls is looking good!

We found frogs everywhere along the trail along a rainy day, with this large Bull Frog.