Lake Creek Amphibian Watch Saturday, June 11, 2016

Six of us braved the first really hot and muggy evening at Lake Creek for this year on June 11. Thanks to Kathy, Myra, Bill, Mary Kay and Deborah for joining me to look over the still flooding dam area.

Environmental Conditions (at 20:35):
Air Temp: 28.8C
Water Temp: 29.6C
Sky: 0 (clear)
Water Level: MAA+ with flow over most of the dam at about 1 inch deep.
Relative Humidity: 73%

Five inches of rain over the past two weeks had badly damaged the entire area, with debris caught up in creekside trees up to 7 feet above the existing water level on the north side and causing the destruction of part of the metal post railing on the bridge over the bypass culvert. All algal mats were scoured from the area above the dam, and the creek was noticeably flowing bank to bank in the pooling area that is usually still. Most of our amphibian adults and tadpoles may have been swept far downstream as a result of the series of heavy rain storms.
Picture of flooded dam site: http://www.inaturalist.org/observations/3671841

General Observations:
We watched 3 to 4 water snakes (Nerodia spp) 'hunting' for fish like bears at a salmon stream. The snakes were hanging on (barely) against the downflow at the lower lip of the dam face and struggled to get traction and go after small fish that either washed over at the top or were trying to swim back up the dam face to the pool above. This was the highlight of the evening.

Pix of snakes and the dam area: http://www.inaturalist.org/observations/3508777

Amphibian Watch Report:
The amphibian calling was weak and occassional. We split up into 3 groups and all moved far away from the noise of the dam overflow to be able to listen, and could barely hear (or record) above the sound of insects. We observed Blanchard's Cricket Frogs at C2 now and then, and also heard one or two Green Tree Frogs at C1. Kathy and Bill took pictures of a quiet Gulf Coast Toad (C0).

Sound and picture observations are linked in the comments below.

Posted on June 23, 2016 08:50 PM by