I was lucky enough to spend this past week (well, Tuesday through Friday) with Dave Smith doing softshell turtle research down at Rondeau Provincial Park. I must say the week was a huge success, despite the crappy weather.
On Tuesday we found some Fowler's Toads and five-lined skinks, as well as blue spotted and red-backed salamanders (Dave's doing a little extra-curricular salamander research on top of the turtle research) and a nice, big Eastern garter snake.
Wednesday was the best day species-wise. We took the canoe out and found snapping, painted, blanding's, map and softshelled turtles, as well as leopard frogs and Fowler's toads. We stopped on the beach where the softshells lay their eggs, and though we didn't find any, we did see a map in the middle of laying her eggs. I watched her lay, then slowly cover her eggs and walk off. I also spotted a Butler's garter on the road, which I released into the bush - not realizing Dave had yet to see one. We searched for it and though it was long gone, we did turn up a little spring peeper. That night we went with some "Friends of Rondeau" in a motor boat and Dave radio tracked and caught a huge female softshell.
Thursday rained pretty heavily, so radio tracking was out (the equipment is not water-proof.) We searched for salamanders and found plenty of blue-spotteds, as well as wood frogs and plenty of stinging nettle. That night we went to Ridgetown Marsh, just outside of Rondeau, and found bull, green and gray tree frogs, as well as a western chorus frog - by pure chance, since they are no longer calling. On the drive back to Rondeau, we stopped periodically to pull American and Fowler's toads off the road.
Friday we did even more salamander searching, finding even more blue-spotteds, as well as spring peepers, bull and leopard frogs, as well as what looked like a Jefferson. We then got a call from maintenance, who were cleaning the beach where the softshells lay their eggs. They found a total of five softshells (Dave's previous record for one day was two), one of which, with a carapace length of 40.6 cm, was 1.4 cm short of the world record for size in Eastern softshells. We then headed home, dropping the Jefferson salamander off at Dr Bogart's for proper identification.
Unfortunately, I did not bring my camera, but Dave should have plenty of pics soon. In total, out of the 33 herp species that are (supposedly) in the park, I saw a total of 20. Not bad for four days! Thanks for reading.
dan
http://www.rondeauprovincialpark.ca
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