Introducing Arbour Adventures

The boys watch quite a bit of YouTube. And they really want to have their own channel. After a little brainstorming, we came up with the idea of a channel called "Arbour Adventures". This is our first installment. I hope you enjoy a little look into the weekend of a life in the Arbour family! -Tom

....and Salamander Catcher

Northern Dusky Salamander

Ohio's Hellbenders Make the New York Times

As I get back into this blogging game, I think I'm going to offer quick posts on current topics that I think lovers of all Ohio nature stuff might like to read. I happened to catch this article on social media that details the plight of our largest salamander, the eastern hellbender, featuring herpetologist Greg Lipps.  If you'd like to see a hellbender, the Columbus Zoo has had at least  one on display in the past (although I'm not sure if they are there right now) and the Wilds near Zanesville has a entire building dedicated to this species, which includes windows into several of their breeding tanks.

-Tom

Flora-quest Isn't Only Flowers

Ringneck Snake, Diadophis punctatus

Although Flora-Quest is a celebration of the late spring Flora of Shawnee State Park and Forest, Cheryl allows us to look at other things too.  Shawnee State Forest has quite possibly the state's most interesting reptile and amphibian populations, and during the weekend I was able to photograph these charasmatic herptiles.

Mole salamander larva, possibly a spotted salamander, Ambystoma maculata.

Northern Slimy Salamander, Plethodon glutinosus

-Tom

Early Salamander Run?

I'm just looking at the forcast for the next few days, and I'm guessing that the warm temperatures and rain might trigger some of the early breeding salamanders, especially Jefferson Salamanders, to make their march to vernal pools. The countdown to spring has begun. I'd also be interested to know if anyone further south has started seeing the ambystomatids emerge.

Sunday
Partly Cloudy
43° F | 25° F

Monday
Partly Cloudy
52° F | 43° F

Tuesday
Chance of Rain
58° F | 47° F

Wednesday
Rain Showers
54° F | 38° F

Thursday
Chance of Snow
40° F | 23° F

The Life in a Vernal Pool

Don't worry everyone, I'm going to keep this blogging thing going for a long, long time. I just love nature and natural history too much to give it up! Megan and I finally got to a vernal pool on Monday evening, and we were about two weeks late for the main migration here in central Ohio. Egg masses abounded in the darkness, the peepers were calling like mad, and a few beautiful spotted salamanders still roamed the pools. Peeper videos to come tomorrow! Stay tuned......



Tom

Spring- Only a Few Weeks Away- Soon the Frogs and Sallys will Play

Click to play

So you're probably thinking, "Tom, are you crazy?" Even with more snow forecast tomorrow? Well, I went back through my photos of last year's activity, and let me just tell you that spring will be here soon. Soon we'll have a chorus of spring peepers across Ohio and the midwest. Megan and I shot this video of a single male spring peeper (Pseudacris cruicer) on March 18, 2007. The chorus of thousands of spring peepers can be deafening. Make sure you have your sound turned up when you watch the video- If it is hurting your ears, you are reliving the spring peeper chorus if full reality.

Yesterday I posted images of fine art, and today, I'm turning to my some of my favorite animals in Ohio, spring peepers and spotted salamanders (Ambystoma maculata). With the first warm spring rain, these tiny creatures emerge from their winter hiding places and head to temporary pools to breed. The spotted salamanders will return to the ground while the peepers stick around in wetlands, catching bugs and avoiding predators.

Spotted salamander from Portage County, Ohio, March 2007.

Last year, Megan and I searched for spotted salamanders in Columbus, but only found the spring peepers heard in the viedo. Our second outing of the year turned up a few spotted salamanders, but me missed the mass migration.

I have, however, witnessed this magical event one time in my life, when I was a graduate student at Miami University. My herpetology professor scheduled a field trip to a known salamander breeding pond. We were accompanied by another graduate student who had been visiting the pond for weeks, but had found no salamanders. We left the campus about 8:00 at night, arriving at the woodland pool soon after. Sure enough, when we got there, there was nothing but peepers. We searched, and searched, and searched the pond, but found no spotted salamanders. Finally, a drip here, a drip there- it began to rain. Would anything happen? Someone shouted out, "I found one!" I thought to myself, "really?" I thought they were full of B.S. And the shout came not from the pond, but from up on the hill. The class raced to the spot, and sure enough, in the leaves, was a magnificent 6 inch long spotted salamander.

How cool! It continued to rain, and as we were gathered, another classmate "spotted" a spotted. Then another one. Then another one! After 10 minutes, we could barely walk in the woods without stepping one them. We collected 50 for the grad students project (he had a permit from the Ohio Division of Wildlife) but we could have collected hundreds. The most amazing thing about the whole night is how a quick change in environmental conditions caused these sallys to come out from underneath their hiding areas in the leaf little and logs. It was awesome.

Spotted salamanders from Butler County, March, 2003

When I first saw these creatures in person, several things come to mind. First is their size- they are massive compared to the woodland plenthodonitid salamanders that I was more familiar with. Second- their color is spectacular. Incredibly spectacular for a creature that spends most of its time underground, and when it is above ground, it is during the night time. Third- If a poacher ever found a mass migration, look out. Hundreds if not thousands can be gathered at one time, and during one night, an entire population could be eliminated.

I hope everyone gets to see an ambystomatid salamander (like the spotted) this spring!

Tom

Animals from Tar Hollow

Tar hollow was very birdy, and we were constantly hearing ovenbirds, woodthrush, hooded warblers, and scarlet tanagers. The male scarlet tanager makes a very distinctive call which can not be mistaken for any other bird. "Chick Bur" "Chick Bur". Megan and I saw a striking male in brush about 30-40 feet away, unfortunately I was not quick enough with the camera to capture it. However, towards the end of our hike, we heard another male chick burring away overhead, we saw some movement, and luckily, the male alighted above us and stayed long enough for me to grab Megan's camera from her fanny pack. The bird was high up in the tree, but here is what I managed to produce using some sharpening in Google's Picassa software.

 

Next up we have the northern dusky salamander. Megan and I came to the first stream crossing on our hike and I noticed several small, flat pieces of sandstone in the water and leaf litter that looked perfect for salamanders. Sure enough, I overturned a few rocks and the little creatures seemed to wiggle out from everywhere. I saw a southern-two lined salamander and this northern dusky. Quite a nice portrait, if I do say so myself!
 

Old Stomping Grounds

Megan and I were in Munroe Falls, Ohio today and yesterday to visit my parents and brother and celebrate my brother's twenty-fourth birthday. The weather yesterday was clear and warm, perfect for visiting a few places where my love of natural history was nurtured as a small child.

Behind our house in Munroe Falls ran a small, spring fed stream lined with sandstone and shale. It was here that I found some really cool stuff growing up. I managed to rediscover many of the things that I found fascinating when I was a kid.

Here you can see "The Creek". It is quite sunny there now without the leaves on the trees. Notice the sandstone strewn about. These rocks are perfect habitat for an animal that I would spend hours catching-- the Two-lined Salamander.


I wanted to see if the salamanders still lived in the creek. It did not take me long to find one. I overturned one of the large pieces of sandstone to reveal this little guy.


Satisfied at finding the two-lined salamander, I next turned my attention to the rocks under which the salamanders hide. I had always noticed strange parallel lines running through the sandstone. I later learned that the sandstone here was full of fossils from ancient plants called horsetails. The rocks in the stream are at least 286 million years old, and formed when non-flowering plants like the horsetails, which are considered a "fern ally" dominated the landscape. After looking for about 5 minutes, I managed to find this specimen. Although weathered somewhat, you can clearly see the ridged outline of the plant. I really think these fossils are amazing!

Spring Will Be Here Soon

In April 2003 I experienced one of the great wonders of nature. During the first warm spring rain, spotted salamanders leave their subterranean homes, move overland, and congregate in masses in temporary woodland pools. Here, the males leave sperm packets on submerged leaves and other detritus, and the females follow, absorb the sperm packets through their cloaca, and use them to fertilize their eggs. We saw hundreds of spotted salamanders that evening. When we arrived at the woodland pond, near Indian Creek in Butler County, it wasn't raining, and there were no salamanders. After about an hour, a gentle rain began falling, and we started seeing salamanders amongst the leaves on the forest floor. At first one or two, then 10 then 100...and then it seemed like we saw at least 1000 of these guys that night. They are extremely cool.

From Herps