weathergaltx's Journal

The weather was perfectly balmy. Although daytime temps are now in the low 90’s, the evening was a most pleasant 78-80F with a nice breeze. The insects were out in force and the constant buzzing, chirping, and high-pitched calling nearly drowned out all other sounds. We will not mention the doofus who continued to mow a lawn for over half an hour after sunset.
Six of us braved the insect din and had a wild night full of nature nerdiness. Thank you Kathy, Mikael, Chuck, Mary Kay, and welcome newcomer Susan Andres for coming out with me this month.

Environmental Conditions (at 20:30):
Air Temp: 26.9C
Water Temp: 29.0C
Sky: 0 (clear)
Water Level: Above Average
Relative Humidity: 58%
The Lake Creek neighborhood had received two big rains in the past eight days. Water was recorded flowing over the dam on the previous Sunday during a Birding on Broadmeade walk. Another storm on Monday night must have added to the overflow. On Saturday night we saw very few floating algal mats and just a little mat formation on the edge of the dam. The Cricket Frogs are missing their favorite calling platforms!! The dam top and back side were dry, so we did not get to witness water snakes fishing in the overflow.

General Observations:
We spent a lot of time looking for additional activity and were rewarded.
Several water snakes were seen swimming, and one, a Diamondback Water Snake, was just determined to come up onto the dam top, so we got excellent pictures.
The Giant Walkingstick pairs were in abundance again this month, busy creating the next generation.
Kathy brought her bat detector and as we watched them going after insects over the water we could also hear their hunting buzz and then capture ‘zip!’.
We saw one scorpion on the limestone wall and blacklighted it. We never get tired of looking at that eerie green florescence.

Amphibian Watch Report:
It was a big month for amphibian observations. We detected six (!) species.

• The Blanchard's Cricket Frogs called regularly, cranking up to C3 (full chorus) many times during the monitoring hour. We also saw several tiny ones on the dam at the water’s edge. I managed to get one adequate recording and several pictures.
• We heard and have pictures of Gulf Coast Toads. We saw many sizes and they were much more abundant than in months past. I have one faint recording and several pix.
• Kathy and Mikael heard a lone Rio Grande Leopard Frog several times during the listening hour.
• I have a good recording of one Bullfrog. This single individual was close to the dam and called very occasionally, for about 5 seconds, three or four times during the monitoring hour.
• We saw several Chirping Frogs (generic name: Rain Frogs) on the limestone wall that we often visit after the dam site monitoring hour is complete. We have many pictures of at least three separate individuals. I was hoping that the recent rains would get them active in the wall, and after no signs of them in May, we found plenty again.
• We all heard Green Tree Frogs call very near the end of the monitoring hour. They were calling at C2 in the woods between the wall and the pond above the dam. They were calling at C3 in the trees along the creek below the dam by 10 pm (heard as we were leaving). We have no recordings of this observation.

Here is a link to CHuck's shot of one of the Giant Walkstick pairs: http://www.inaturalist.org/observations/6602097