Berry Springs Preserve Herps of Texas report, 15Jun2019

There was a great turnout of folks and frogs at Berry Springs Preserve this month. The wet weather pond north of the improved campground was dry, so we stopped by the middle slough springhead (by the bird blind), the footbridge by the playground, the main pond shoreline, and the ditch in the pecan orchard. We observed two American Bullfrogs (Call Index = 0); one was in the ditch in the pecan orchard, and the other was in the slough by the playground, and Mike got photos of both. We also observed:

• Rio Grande Leopard Frogs (Randy caught one, and one Mike spotted another that the other Mike caught) calling at CI = 2;
• Blanchard's Cricket Frogs calling at their usual CI = 3 by the time we left; and,

• One newbie Western Narrow-mouthed Toad (CI = 0) at the base of a tree near the playground.
  But it was the night of the Green Tree Frogs ! They were calling EVERYWHERE, ultimately at CI = 3 by the time we left, and we got to see three of them at eye level in the small Texas Redbud trees next to the main pond. It was a fun night.
  The monitoring period was 20:30 - 22:00.
  Participants were Kathy, Amy & Mike, Diane, Mike, Carolyn, Randy, and Lynne.
  Environmental conditions at the middle slough springhead at sunset:

• Air temperature = 83.8 deg F
• Water temperature = 75.5 deg F
• Sky = No/few clouds
• Water level = Average
• Relative humidity = 48 %

Posted on 16 de junho de 2019, 03:01 PM by k_mccormack