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Tonight a chorus of spring peepers penetrates the walls and windows of our house. They beckoned me outside, and over to the 'salamander pond' I went. There were spring peepers on blades of grass some distance from the pond and I soon found myself stepping very carefully in the misty, balmy 16 C night. The little frogs were everywhere! We had dug a pond specifically with amphibians in mind in 2016 (with gradual sloping banks, shallow depths, and a varied bottom with occasional rocks). It's working well! Last week there were wood frogs, with only occasional spring peepers. Tonight the peepers are deafening and wood frogs are only occasional backup singers. I remember the peepers being this loud at home when I was small, but they are no longer in the loud choruses they once were on the South Mountain of Kings County. The acid rain is still having an impact. I've thought of dropping a piece of gypsum in Mom's pond to sweeten the water. (Would that help, I wonder? I should measure the pH and give it a try, but haven't gotten around to that yet.) Our pond was a busy spot tonight, with a lot of 'amplexus taking place'. My neighbour's pond, just meters away from our own, is much older and well-established, so I visited both ponds and compared. The frog population seemed similar in both ponds but the water has not yet cleared in our new one. I hope our pond supports enough food to raise the tadpoles successfully. Meanwhile, my ear drums nearly vibrated out of my skull. I put up my hood to shut out some of the noise. (Could prolonged exposure to an extremely loud spring peeper chorus cause loss of high pitched hearing? Did this ever happen to anyone? Swamp dwellers are deaf? Maybe this is the reason why salamanders don't hear!! What is the decibel threshold for hearing damage-it seems that peepers might surpass it. Could I lose ability to hear Blackburnians and other high pitchers from this activity? I don't think those are common herptile questions, but I'd love to have some answers.) Other life in the pond seems to be missing this evening. Other years, I've seen yellow spotted salamanders moving about the bottom and occasional red spotted newts. I thought the salamander migration must have already taken place, but perhaps not. I looked more sharply on the way back to the house. There in my back yard was a yellow spotted salamander, frozen motionless, but pointed in the direction of the pond. I took some photos. Then thought perhaps he/she was held motionless under the fairly strong lighting of the back yard light. I stepped inside the back door and turned the light off. I'll give it a minute to move in the darkness, I thought to myself, and decided to scan through some of my frog shots on the camera before stepping back out to see if I could get an action video of that salamander. It must have traveled in great haste. It was nowhere to be seen, though it should have been easy to re-find on the mown lawn. It had apparently already walked the ~ 15 m to the tall grass closer to the pond. I searched for other salamanders but didn't find any. I wonder if there is a time of night when they travel the most? One thing is for certain, the salamanders should have had plenty of snacks along their migration. There were 1000s of earthworms in the yard, all slipping back into their holes as I walked along. Some of them were also taking advantage of the warm moist evening to 'swap genetics'. Busy night! I returned to the back door to find 2 spring peepers glued to the wall beside the door and one on the glass door. Very cool. It's suppose to rain for a few more nights. This is great fun. Maybe others will have similar experiences. On the South Mountain, some ponds still had ice in them today. I suspect the salamander migration may be in earlier stages there. Wood frogs may still have 'a chance at the mic' before they get drowned out by the peepers! Donna Crossland Herpin' in Tupperville --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus
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