The weather was perfectly balmy. Although daytime temps are now in the low 90’s, the evening was a most pleasant 78-80F with a nice breeze. The insects were out in force and the constant buzzing, chirping, and high-pitched calling nearly drowned out all other sounds. We will not mention the doofus who continued to mow a lawn for over half an hour after sunset.
Six of us braved the insect din and had a wild night full of nature nerdiness. Thank you Kathy, Mikael, Chuck, Mary Kay, and welcome newcomer Susan Andres for coming out with me this month.
Environmental Conditions (at 20:30):
Air Temp: 26.9C
Water Temp: 29.0C
Sky: 0 (clear)
Water Level: Above Average
Relative Humidity: 58%
The Lake Creek neighborhood had received two big rains in the past eight days. Water was recorded flowing over the dam on the previous Sunday during a Birding on Broadmeade walk. Another storm on Monday night must have added to the overflow. On Saturday night we saw very few floating algal mats and just a little mat formation on the edge of the dam. The Cricket Frogs are missing their favorite calling platforms!! The dam top and back side were dry, so we did not get to witness water snakes fishing in the overflow.
General Observations:
We spent a lot of time looking for additional activity and were rewarded.
Several water snakes were seen swimming, and one, a Diamondback Water Snake, was just determined to come up onto the dam top, so we got excellent pictures.
The Giant Walkingstick pairs were in abundance again this month, busy creating the next generation.
Kathy brought her bat detector and as we watched them going after insects over the water we could also hear their hunting buzz and then capture ‘zip!’.
We saw one scorpion on the limestone wall and blacklighted it. We never get tired of looking at that eerie green florescence.
Amphibian Watch Report:
It was a big month for amphibian observations. We detected six (!) species.
Here is a link to CHuck's shot of one of the Giant Walkstick pairs: http://www.inaturalist.org/observations/6602097
Representative full chorus that called regularly during the Amphibian Watch monitoring hour.
Insect noise nearly drowned out other sounds, making observation difficult.
Single individual who called 4 or 5 times in the monitoring hour. Each call was only 5-6 seconds.
A number of Gulf Coast Toads were seen and photographed. The Amphibian Watch group could also hear them calling, but it was almost impossible to record them due to high volume of insect noise.
This is the best recording of 4 or 5 attempted during the monitoring hour.
The "highs" seem to be missing on this site's playback. The 'whirrrrr' can be detected on my iPhone when playing the original in Audiocopy app.
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Thanks Sue! Quick note: These six species are all of the amphibian species I know of that have ever been observed on Lake Creek Trail.
Bullfrog recording: http://www.inaturalist.org/observations/6613099
Chuck's Giant Walkingstick photo: http://www.inaturalist.org/observations/6602097
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