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“Frog catching is probably the most enjoyable a human being can have whereas on this earth.”
— Jase Robertson
I’d kind of agree with the “Duck Dynasty” star. However, after the twentieth hour or so, one grows weary.
Last yr, Kelly Capuzzi, John Howard and I launched what you may consider to be a idiot’s errand: the first-ever Ohio Amphibian Big Day. As nobody has but come forth to say a earlier effort, I’m sticking with our declare of being first. However, we will be the solely ones mad sufficient to aim this. Capuzzi is an aquatic biologist and Howard lives in Adams County and is a strolling encyclopedia of natural world.
In 2021, we began our 24-hour marathon at 11 a.m. on March 30, which ended the identical time the subsequent day. We had been afield for 21 of the 24 hours, and lined components of three counties: Adams, Brown, and Scioto. Our tally: 18 species.
There are 37 amphibian species in Ohio, and maybe 32 of them are in putting distance of southern Ohio’s Adams County, our house base. Finding all of them could be almost unimaginable, however we knew we may high 18 species.
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Learning from our errors, we made a number of adjustments. Moving the Big Day again two weeks improved our odds of finding extra species. We weeded out unproductive spots and added others to the itinerary. Most necessary, we added an amphibian all-pro to the workforce: Aaron Crank.
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Twenty-three-year previous Crank is from Minford, in japanese Scioto County, and is a strolling encyclopedia of herpetological data. He is aware of the area just like the again of his hand, and is near-magical at finding secretive frogs, salamanders and toads within the subject.
Our quest started at midday on April 12. Crank couldn’t be a part of us till early night, so Capuzzi, Howard and I darted about Adams and Brown counties, largely selecting off low-hanging fruit.
Surprisingly, our first discover was not a gimme, a long-tailed salamander larva that Howard discovered underneath a creek rock. Next was a southern two-lined salamander, one of many who we might tally. The final frog to begin singing is the cricket frog, they usually hadn’t fired up but. Vocalizations make frogs far simpler to detect. Nonetheless we discovered a number of round a pond. This is Ohio’s smallest amphibian. The warty frogs are about an inch in size.
A go to to a Brown County marsh added a slew of new checkmarks: American bullfrog, American toad, inexperienced frog, northern leopard frog, spring peeper, and western refrain frog.
Success find extra species
By the time we met up with Crank at a distant spot in Scioto County, we had been up to 14 species. Our new workforce member shortly helped wrangle the next salamanders: four-toed, Kentucky spring, marbled, mud, and noticed. We additionally added wooden frog.
Darkness was falling, and we headed to some rocky crags close to the Ohio River. We had been after the uncommon inexperienced salamander, a cliff specialist that spends a lot time in tiny fissures. Success! We discovered 4.
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