Herp Update: Fundraising, activity (herp and human), events – January 10, 2024
I hope you all survived our storm without too much damage. We have power and only small branches down here in Salisbury, but other Herp Atlas staff are without power, phone, or wifi at their homes.
Update on Our Annual Fundraiser
We are about one week into our annual fundraiser and we have so far raised $5,000 of our $20,000 goal for 2024. If you have contributed already, thanks! If not, please do consider a donation. You can also help by forwarding this e-mail to anyone you think might be supportive.
To learn more or to contribute, visit: www.gofundme.com/f/vermont-reptile-amphibian-atlas-fundraiser-24
Recent Herp Activity
Common Gartersnakes Under Water
We received a report from Kevin Carney yesterday. He found two adult Common Gartersnakes under water in a spring in Lyndon on January 5. 
We have received a few other reports of gartersnakes alive and underwater in springs and brooks in winter. In these cases the relatively warm ground water is keeping the snakes from freezing. One of the reports mentioned that the snake was coming to the surface periodically to take a breath, but the literature suggests that their metabolic rate lowers enough so that they can take in the limited amount of oxygen they need directly from the water. I also have read reports of some gartersnakes surviving freezing, as long as it was only for a very short period of time. We have one report of a gartersnake that was frozen to the surface of the ice. It was rescued, and it later moved away on its own.
Recent Human Activity
On the Vt Herp Atlas
Here in the office Kate Kelly has just finished up our annual download of useful iNaturalist reports. This takes some time. Some iNaturalist records obscure the exact locations we need, some are misidentified, and many don’t include all the information that we would like to have, so each individual record needs to be carefully reviewed. She has now finished that project for the year, and all 377 of those records have been imported into our database.
As you can see, we get many useful herp reports from iNaturalist, but it is more convenient for us to have you send reptile and amphibian records directly to us, either through our form at VtHerpAtlas.org or e-mail to jandrews@VtHerpAtlas.org. Records that come to us directly will be reviewed quickly and we will get back to you for any additional information we need.
Rosy Metcalfe has finished her review of the status and distribution of Eastern Ribbonsnake in Vermont. We needed to compile that information for the Vermont Reptile and Amphibian Scientific Advisory Group (HerpSAG) to the Vermont Endangered Species Committee. They are reviewing whether or not Eastern Ribbonsnakes should be recommended for listing as threatened in Vermont.
Molly Parren has finished adding latitude/longitude coordinates to all herptile records from all towns bordering Lake Champlain. She is now reviewing (and correcting if needed) all latitude/longitude coordinates for S1 (rare) species in our database. She is also adding altitude and other data that were missing.
Cindy Brown continues to add into our database all new records that are sent in to us, and when she is caught up with that, she adds latitude/longitude coordinates to all reports of common herptiles in Windsor County. This is in addition to her many other office responsibilities.
The Mt. Mansfield Amphibian Monitoring Team headed up by Warren Ellison and also including Rob Robbins, Jeff Salisbury, Katie Arms, and Sandy Hamlet have finished gathering our long-term monitoring data from Mt. Mansfield and those data are now in our database.
Erin Talmage is now reviewing our data from Mt. Mansfield and drafting our annual report for that site.
Jim Andrews has been working with the Vermont Department of Transportation and the engineers and biologists at McFarland Johnson Inc. to design some new reptile and mammal underpasses under Route 22A. He has also been communicating with The Watershed Center in Bristol to conserve the northern population of the state-threatened Eastern Ratsnakes.
In addition, he recently appeared on WCAX Channel 3 TV talking about climate change and its impacts on herptiles. You can watch that piece online at:
www.wcax.com/video/2024/01/10/wildlife-watch-mild-winter-has-some-reptiles-amphibians-move/
Presentations
Over the next month, Jim will be presenting VT herptile information to the VT Endangered Species Committee, the New England Transportation Consortium, The Vermont Association of Wetland Scientists, The Lewis Creek Association, and Otter Creek Audubon. You may be interested in joining us for either of these last two events. They are free and open to the public.
- Amphibians & Wildlife Underpasses in Monkton
Thursday, January 25, 2024
6:30 PM to 8:00 PM
Monkton Central School in Monkton
For more information on this event visit:
https://www.lewiscreek.org/upcoming-events/2024/1/25/amphibians-wildlife-underpasses-in-monkton or
www.lewiscreek.org/upcoming-events - The Snakes of Vermont
Thursday, February 8, 2024
7:00 PM to 8:30
Ilsley Library in Middlebury
For more information on this event visit:
ottercreek.wordpress.com/calander-of-events/
