Herp Update: DeKay’s and Donations — January 13, 2022

Current Herp Activity

Herpers, although I have not been out at night checking myself, I am not receiving any reports of amphibians moving above ground during these recent rains.  At my house this morning it is raining, has been for hours, and the temperature is 35°F, but the ground is still frozen and I believe that will keep most amphibians from being fooled by the conditions.

Back when my wife and I were helping with the Hinesburg Christmas Bird Count on December 31, the temperature hit 52°F in the early afternoon, the top portion of the ground had thawed, and both Kate Kelly and my wife Kris heard single Spring Peepers calling.  I don’t believe these peepers moved at all toward breeding habitat, but rather they were calling from their wintering location in the leaf litter.

More surprising was the report and photo of a DeKay’s Brownsnake moving on a school playground in Brattleboro on January 10. This is the first ever report of a DeKay’s in January. The air temperature is reported to have been only 32°F but reporter Susan Johnson said the sun made the playground quite warm. See her photo below.

Ordinarily, snake activity above ground during the winter is the result of some disturbance at their overwintering site. For one interesting example of snake disturbance check out this video from Mark Lotterhand in New York:

It makes you wonder how many chilled and lethargic snakes are taken by small warm-blooded predators during the winter.

Our Annual Fundraiser Continues

We kicked off our annual Vermont Reptile and Amphibian Atlas fundraiser just before Christmas. Your contributions make up the largest portion of our annual budget. The rest comes from grants and cost-share agreements. We have raised about 1/3 of our goal but still have a long way to go. Please do consider making a donation if you have not already done so. For more information visit:

Annual Fundraiser

Donations can be made in a variety of ways:

Through our GoFundMe site (they take 2.9 percent of the payment plus 30 cents per transaction)

https://gofund.me/c24c4d34

By using the PayPal link on our website (they take 2.9 percent of the payment plus 30 cents per transaction)

https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/VtHerpAtlas

By writing a check made out to James S. Andrews (no overhead is lost but it is not tax deductible).  Send the check to:

If you would prefer, or if your fund requires that your donation be made to a 501c3 not-for profit, you can write a check made out to Vermont Family Forests (VFF).   VFF is our fiscal sponsor and they are a registered 501(c)3 non-profit (they do take 15% for overhead costs).

If you write a check to VFF, we prefer that you still address it to:

However, if your fund requires that the check be sent directly to Vermont Family Forests, make sure to make it clear that the donation is for the Vermont Reptile and Amphibian Atlas and send the donation to:

I hope you will contribute. Thank you!