Salamander Migration Update #2 (February 14, 2012)

For 8 years the Environmental Commission and Friends of the Commission have been coordinating the efforts to protect spotted salamanders and other amphibians (and an occasional reptile) as they head to the vernal pools to breed. These breeding migrations typically occur at night in March or April on the first few significant rainfall events when temperatures are at or near 50 degrees. Trigger mechanisms for movements include the preceding weather (temperature and rainfall), ground temperatures (the salamanders and frogs overwinter beneath ground or deep in the leaf litter), the timing of the precipitation, and likely other micro-ecological factors. The migration often occurs in waves. Males generally head to the pools first followed by other males and females on subsequent rainfall events. However, there can also be one major event when both males and females move at the same time followed by much smaller movements during subsequent rainfalls. In the past, the earliest we have seen migrations are in the first week of March and sometimes the movements have held off or continued until late March or even April.

As everyone knows, this winter has been one of the most unusual in memory. Not only has it featured virtually no snow, but the ground has barely been frozen and average air temperatures have been some of the warmest recorded. With the exception of the current minor cold snap, many days have featured temperatures 5, 10 or even 15 degrees above normal. Equally important nighttime temperatures have also been above normal. We are unsure what impact this will have on the salamander migration this year, but we are expecting an early movement if the weather continues along the same track it has all winter.

We encourage everyone interested in the salamander migration to join the Friends (www.friendsebec.com) and follow along with our predictions. It adds a great element of fun to the migration to try and unravel the complexity of nature and to see just how little we really know about the things that occur around us. We will post updates regularly as we feel are necessary. These updates are the only way to be certain if the road will be open or closed. If the road is closed and you come out at night, please be aware that Church Lane is very dark and cars move at fast speeds. Use extreme caution when parking or crossing the road and especially be watchful of your children. NEVER WALK BEEKMAN ROAD AT NIGHT IF THE ROAD IS NOT CLOSED - IT IS NOT SAFE!!! If you come to the road, EVERYONE should have a flashlight. It will help see things in the dark, make the night much more fun and prevent accidentally stepping on a salamander or spring peeper. 

For anyone who has followed our predictions over the past years, it will be evident that we are often just guessing at what will happen. Sometimes we are spot on and salamanders are everywhere, other times we walk Beekman Road on a wet, rainy raw night with nothing crossing at all. As the salamander migration time gets close, these are the days and nights when we check the woods daily and weather-oriented websites like Weather.com and NOAA hourly. We also base our predictions on what other field biologists are saying around the state, and whether other things in nature have happened, such as choruses of spring peepers that seem to always presage the movements.

Given the mild winter we have had so far and that there were already 4 spotted salamanders found near the pools over a week ago, and more than a month earlier than ever before, the police have put out the barriers and we are ready to close the road whenever conditions seem appropriate. Although we have not heard any spring peeper choruses, the weather this week is going to turn quite mild again and we are carefully watching to see if a low will develop and bring a significant rainfall event to the area on Thursday. If this occurs, I suspect we will close the road Thursday evening, if for nothing other than caution. My gut tells me it is still too early, but this year is unusual and seems to beg defiance. We rely extensively on the weather predictions and charts and meteorologist forecast discussions from NOAA to help us assess the upcoming weather. Here is the latest weather graph for Thursday

WEATHER FORCAST FOR THURSDAY

Temperatures will be near or above 60 and rainfall will occur in the afternoon, but the timing and in particular the end of the event is questionable.

Unfortunately, we don’t “speak salamander”, but last year the renowned and award-winning children’s nature writer Jim Arnosky granted us permission to use his awesome woodsman nature character Crinkleroot as our migration spokesman. Crinkleroot lives in the woods and “can speak salamander”! Hopefully Crinkleroot will give us some guidance this year on what the spotted salamanders are thinking... 

Watch a video of the salamander migration from last year at:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxmbDgvUk3M&feature=youtu.be