NATURE / OUTDOORS
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Today's
Fieldwork
Little Patuxent River
Crofton, MD
3/26/08 Mark Burchick
TODAY'S FIELDWORK - Part
1
- from Mark Burchick
We are in the process of
designing a park that includes
wetland mitigation, a lake with
fisheries and several
interpretive themes regarding
site natural resources.
Today, our emphasis was to
evaluate existing forested
wetlands for their potential as
seasonal, amphibian breeding
ponds.
Two
mallards in a Chick-Fil-A parking lot.
The
two-week reign of invasive Malus,
Pyrus, Prunus.
Don't
ask. This is quite atypical for a
Ford truck.
Cut-leaf
toothwort.
Northern Cricket
Frog (Acris
crepitans).
This 1-inch long
breed of frog
can jump up to
six-feet and is
a relatively
common,
non-climbing
tree frog
throughout the
central Atlantic
states.
They are common
on the piedmont
but much less so
on the coastal
plain.
Unfortunately
these frogs a
quite
short-lived,
rarely exceeding
1-year old.
They are however
prolific and a
great food
source for many
species of
birds, mammals,
amphibians and
reptiles.
They are called
cricket frogs
because they
sound like
crickets.
They have a
triangle shape
behind the head
and eyes and a
Y-shape down the
back that can be
a red hue as
were ours, or
quite variable
in color, with
color tones
including
yellow, orange
or green.
I worked with
Erica and Abby
today, and Erica
was able to spot
and capture
numerous
critters.
Our site was a 'herp'
fest!
This is a
spotted turtle
(Clemmys guttata).
They are
quite
elusive and
secretive
and can be
found in
vernal
pools,
swamps and
bogs,
primarily on
the coastal
plain.
They nest
and
hibernate in
hummocks of
sphagnum
peat and
have a
life-long
range of
between 1
and
8-acres.
