Night of the Spadefoot

Eastern Spadefoots are an unusual toad that spend most of their lives underground, emerging only during the breeding season in late spring on very rainy nights.  This spadefoot was found in a pool in Owings (North Beach, CW after the thunderstorms of last evening.  Several of our seventh grade classes have reported spadefoots from different locations in the county.

Eastern Spadefoot found in North Beach, CW

Note the elliptical pupils on the Spadefoot's eyes.

The small crescent shaped black structure or "spade"on the hind foot is used for digging.

Frog Quiz Time!

CMS seventh grade science teachers Ms. Coggeshall and Ms. Campbell placed a FrogLogger at CMS (Prince Frederick, CW) on the evening of May 23.  Below is a clip with the sounds that were recorded that night at 9:00 p.m.

The logger was placed near the sediment pond in front of t he school.                                                                                  Calvert Middle School is in the Prince Frederick, CW block

Can you name the five different species that can be heard in this recording?  Be the first CCPS teacher to send the correct response to:

Hartent@calvertnet.k12.md.us and you'll win a prize!

A Chorus of Cope's!


The Cope's Gray Treefrogs are singing away right about now.  The CHESPAX staff placed a FrogLogger out in front of the office at King's Landing Park (Lower Marlboro, SE) a couple of nights ago and captured some great sounds of these frogs.  


Spend some time outdoors on a warmish evening and see what you can hear!

More reports from Mill Creek Middle!

Some of Mr. Hendrix' students continue to post some good sightings and have provided photographic documentation of their finds.  Some of these are below.


My name is Walter J. and I found the frog and turtle both in my yard  in Lusby.  The frog was found on 5/16/12 and the turtle on 5/15/12   Block: Solomons Island NW

Eastern Box Turtle from Solomons, NW

Fowler's Toad from a Lusby backyard (Solomons, NW)

Miles H.

Solomons NE

Around 6:30, we found some lizards sunbathing under our deck. I took some pictures, the good ones are attached. This was a Five-lined Skink,  sighted 5/14/2012. 

A Five-lined Skink from Solomons, NE

Brian M.

Lusby, MD 20657  7:56 pm 

Solomons, NE

Eastern Box Turtle

Eastern Box Turtle from Solomons, NE

Herps at our Schools!

Ms. Coggeshall's class from Calvert Middle School (Prince Frederick, CW) made an interesting find while working on the Amphibian and Reptile Atlas unit.  A description of their observation is below:

"We were down in the media center to find out Quad/blocks for my first period class and low and behold two guys were on the door to the courtyard."

Cope's Gray Treefrog on windowsill at Calvert Middle School (Prince Frederick, CW)

The bright yellow legs show up well on the underside of this Cope's Gray Treefrog 

Treefrogs can use their sticky toepads to climb straight up a glass window!

Thanks for sharing these great pictures!

Some South County finds!

Derrice S. from Mr. Hendrix class of Mill Creek Middle School  reported some good finds for the project from the Solomons NE block..

Turtle: Box turtle (not sure of gender) found at 4:30 pm in a trail behind house in pond!

Lizard: common five line skink: female found a couple months ago in woods !

Lizard: Eastern Fence Lizards (not sure of gender) found near water spout on drive beside house!

Front view of Eastern Box Turtle

Top view of Eastern Box Turtle

Common Five-lined Skink

Eastern Fence Lizards

The answer to the frog call quiz in the last post is:
Green Frog, Spring Peeper, Cope's Gray Treefrog, and Southern Leopard Frog

FrogLoggers!

Mr. Hendrix from Mill Creek Middle School (Solomons NW) deployed a FrogLogger near one of the sediment ponds at the school on May 14.  The logger recorded one minute sound segments each half from 7:00 pm until midnight.  There were a lot of frogs calling that night!

If you are a Calvert County seventh grade science teacher and are interested in placing a logger on your schoolyard, please get in touch with the CHESPAX office and we will help you get started.

See how many species you can identify from the recording below!  We will announce the correct answers in the next post.  Hint there are four species that can be heard on this clip.

Snakes Above and Below!

Calvert County is home to a variety of snakes of different shapes and sizes.  On Thursday and Friday of last week a couple of snakes were observed at King's Landing Park that show the striking diversity of our local snake species.  One of the larger snakes native to our county is the Northern Black Racer, these snakes are good climbers and can often be found high up in blackberry bushes and other shrubs in search of their prey.
One of our smaller snake is the Smooth Earth Snake, a snake that is rarely seen since it generally burrows through the forest floor in search of the insects and earthworms that make up their diet.

It is very important that untrained individuals not handle snakes, as even non-venomous snakes will bite when handled improperly.

Northern Black Racer from Lower Marlboro SE

Eastern Smooth Earthsnake from Benedict NE

Like a Plucking a Loose Banjo String!

We often use descriptive terms to help remember the different frog calls that we hear in nature.  One of the common sounds of spring and summer is the Green Frog.  These Green Frogs were recorded in the Lusby backyard of a CHESPAX staff member (Cove Point, CW).  The recording was made with a FrogLogger placed near a water garden.  The falling water sound that you will hear is from the waterfall feature on this pond.  Listen for the Green Frogs calling in the background.

Road Running!

Quite often reptiles and amphibians can be seen crossing roadways throughout Calvert County.  In fact, all too often, these animals are killed or injured by car traffic.  If you are reporting any animals observed on the road, be sure to get an exact location so that the proper MARA block can be linked with your sighting.  Photographs are always helpful too.  Also, be very careful for your own safety anywhere near our busy Calvert County roadways!

This pretty garter snake was observed on May 9, 2012 near King's Landing Park in Huntingtown (Lower Marlboro, SE).  The snake was photographed by CHESPAX staffer, Michelle Daubon.

This gartersnake was seen crossing a road near King's Landing Park  in  Huntingtown.

Reptiles and Amphibians in the News!


Here's an interesting article about the re-introduction of Louisiana pine snakes back into their native habitat.  Scientists bred pine snakes in captivity and hatched the eggs at the Memphis Zoo.  The baby snakes were implanted with tiny transmitters called PIT tags.  The technology will  allow scientists to identify the released snakes upon recapture and to track their movements near the release site.

Louisiana pine snakes are one of the rarest snakes in the United States.  The snakes have declined due to loss of habitat from expanded logging activities in the south.  Restoration of long leaf pine forestland has raised the hopes of bringing back the Louisiana pine snake from the brink of extinction.

The Louisiana pine snake, one of the rarest snake species in the United States.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/05/120507165555.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily%2Ftop_news%2Ftop_environment+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Top+News+--+Top+Environment%29

Reptiles and Amphibians in the News!


The Calvert FrogBlog post on March 13 refers to an article from the Washington Post about the ranavirus that is affecting frogs and turtles in Maryland.  


This article and video clip from the Voice of America website further explores this serious problem.

http://www.voanews.com/english/news/usa/Reptiles-Amphibians-in-US-Succumbing-to-Deadly-Ranavirus-147292065.html?utm_source=May+2012&utm_campaign=BayStat-May2012&utm_medium=email