Herp Update: Current Herptile Activity, Pittsfield, Priority Towns, Fiscal Sponsor, Upcoming Events – July 25, 2024

Current Herptile Activity

Only three amphibians are still calling from their breeding ponds. They are American Bullfrogs, Green Frogs, and Mink Frogs. Gray Treefrogs may call occasionally, but they are calling from trees, bushes, porches, decks, and house plants; not breeding ponds. We have mentioned previously that any report of an American Bullfrog is valuable, but we have not pointed out our need for reports of Mink Frogs. Mink Frogs are a northern species never reported from the southern four counties of Vermont (Rutland, Windsor, Bennington, and Windham).

The recent discovery of a population on Mink Frogs in Monkton was a real surprise and a first for Addison County. Mink Frogs are calling now from the edges of ponds, bogs, and fens with open water and emergent vegetation. They may call day or night as long as it is warm. Their call sounds unlike any other species. Individual calls sound like someone hammering a nail into a wooden shingle (cut, cut, cut). A full chorus sounds like a team of horses hooves on a cobblestone road. Check out the call at the USGS Frog Quiz Website (click on Frog call lookup in the upper right corner, then use the dropdown menu next to Common Name to select Mink Frog).

If you hear the call, please make a short recording of it with your cell phone and send it our way. Mink Frogs appear to have disappeared from some towns where they were once found, but this may simply mean that people are not recognizing and reporting them. Check out the maps and photos below.

Kiley Briggs took this photo of a Mink Frog. Notice the green line above the tympanum, and the spotted body and legs. The spots on the legs are slightly elongated along the axis of the leg. Mink Frogs also stink when you handle them. They smell like rotten garlic.

This photo contains both a Green Frog and a Mink Frog. The Mink Frog is in the upper right. The frog in the lower left is a Green Frog. Notice the banded legs of the Green Frog.

This is our 2019 map of Mink Frog distribution before the Monkton population was found.

Our Pittsfield Visit

Kate Kelly, Ira Powsner and I visited Pittsfield three times this past month in an effort to fill in some of the data gaps for that town. Before the visit, Pittsfield was a high priority town for a visit based on the large number of herp species that had either never been reported from that town, or species that had not been reported in the last 25 years. We were fortunate to get permission from a couple landowners to visit their ponds and woods. We also visited a mountain stream within the Green Mountain National Forest.

The stream visit was very productive. We located Northern Two-lined Salamander, Northern Dusky Salamander, and Spring Salamander within minutes of our arrival. We were quite pleased with ourselves until Kate discovered that we had not traveled far enough upstream to cross the border into PIttsfield. We were still in Rochester.

So, we returned a week later, traveled further upstream, and once again found all three stream salamanders. What was unusual, was that the hardest salamander to find on our return visit was the Northern Two-lined Salamander. We found six Spring Salamanders and five Northern Dusky Salamanders in the 40 minutes we spent on the stream, but only a single Northern Two-lined Salamander. Two-lined Salamanders are usually the easiest of the three to locate. They may have dispersed away from the river in the recent rains. They will probably return to the river’s edge as the soil dries.

In total, we picked up reports of twelve species. In addition to the three stream salamander species, we personally found American Toad, Eastern Newt, Eastern Red-backed Salamander, Green Frog, and Ring-necked Snake. The landowners reported four additional species: Common Gartersnake, Painted Turtle, Snapping Turtle, and Spring Peeper. That leaves three fairly common herptiles that have never been reported from Pittsfield: American Bullfrog, Gray Treefrog, and Pickerel Frog. It is possible that American Bullfrog and Gray Treefrog are genuinely missing from Pittsfield, but Pickerel Frog is almost certainly enjoying a beaver meadow somewhere in that town.

Adult Spring Salamander, photo by Rich Kern

Current Priority Towns

The towns that currently have the highest number of documentation needs are Baltimore and Canaan. Both towns are missing photo-documentation of thirteen common herptiles. The town of Lewis is missing photo-documentation of eleven common herptiles. If you live or near any of these three towns, or you are willing to make a visit, please photograph whatever herptiles you find, it would be a great help.

Website Issue Resolved

The security certificate issue has been resolved. So our website is fully functional once again. Apparently there was a bug in the security certificate updating software of our web host.

The Vermont Herp Atlas needs a new Fiscal Sponsor

Some grant sources (and individuals) will only donate to 501c3, not-for-profit organizations. We are not a registered 501c3 organization. What many organizations like ours do is make an arrangement with a registered 501c3 organization where donations for our projects can be made through them. In return, they take a certain percentage of our grant and donation income to cover their bookkeeping expenses.

Ever since leaving space at Middlebury College in 2008, Vermont Family Forests has been our fiscal sponsor. However, they would like to simplify their bookkeeping, so we are looking for a new not-for-profit organization to partner with.

If you know of a 501c3 organization that might like to partner with us, please do let us know. There is some funding available to help support the 501c3’s costs of being a fiscal sponsor. We are exceptionally grateful to Vermont Family Forests for their partnership over the last 16 years.

Upcoming Events

I (Jim Andrews) will be giving a Powerpoint presentation and leading a field trip in Grafton for the Grafton Nature Museum on August 3. The Powerpoint will be at the Grafton Inn at 10:30 and the field trip will start at the Nature Museum at 12:30. The Powerpoint presentation will cover Selected Reptiles and Amphibians of Southeastern VT. Please register in advance here.