Lake Creek Steamier August Amphibian Watch August 12, 2017
It was dead calm yet again, and after a big rain earlier in the week it remained quite humid. We were sweating this time.
Background street traffic noise was quite low, which made it easier during our listening periods. Interestingly, the insect noise was significantly less than the din in July. Four other folks turned out, which is wonderful for this month. Thank you Myra, Carolyn, Reggie, and Paula for coming out with me this month.
Environmental Conditions (at 20:15):
Air Temp: 30.2C
Water Temp: 33.4C
Sky: 0 (clear)
Water Level: Much Above Average
Relative Humidity: 65%
We had a big rain (maybe 3 inches at this location) very early Monday, so the pond level above the dam was right at the top edge and a lot of the algal mats had been swept over the dam. The limestone bedrock below the dam had a large number of drying pools and was about 50% covered with moist algal mats.
General Observations:
The ponding area above the dam was mostly clear, with only a start at algal mat formation. We saw four or five water snakes (one diamondback for sure) gliding along and many (cliff) swallows hunting insects above the water.
Amphibian Watch Report:
The Blanchard's Cricket Frogs called intermittently the entire time we were at the monitoring site. Their calling got louder and more constant later in the evening. There was one large group far away and several individuals close to the dam. We observed 3 very young frogs hopping on the edge of the dam. I have a good recording of a C3 chorus.
Near the limestone wall, we heard Green Tree Frogs calling (have a recording). We saw one Gulf Coast Toad squeezed into a crack in the wall and also saw several chirping frogs in the cracks (have one picture and one recording. The chirping frog recording is a first for this site. We see them often in the wall, but have never hear them.
Another herp: we got our first sighting, and a photo, of a skink.
