Be honest now. How many of you have squashed an Eft? That is, how many of you have inadvertently run over the terrestrial, juvenile, bright-red form of the Eastern Newt (Notophthalmus viridescens)? I know I’m guilty, probably several times over. Unless you’ve transcended the … [Read more...] about Salamanders: Little Things that Run a Forest
ecosystems
Go Panthers!
Millions of Americans are watching with stunned admiration as a football team not previously thought to be much of a threat to the Patriots or Seahawks advances, so far undefeated, toward the Super Bowl. Many of us find ourselves rooting for the Carolina Panthers, with their … [Read more...] about Go Panthers!
American Eels in the Lake Champlain Basin
Just as salmon are indicator and keystone species for the health of watersheds draining to the Pacific Ocean, eel are indicators and keystones for Atlantic watersheds. American Eel are native to most major freshwater systems from the St. Lawrence River (and even farther north) … [Read more...] about American Eels in the Lake Champlain Basin
Spring Song: Frogs of the Adirondacks
Spring Peepers have began warming up for their mating choruses along the Beaver pond near my home in Split Rock Wildway. Wood Frogs began singing—if duck-like quacks be song—from vernal pools in the eastern Adirondacks even before the ice was all melted. Gray Treefrogs, … [Read more...] about Spring Song: Frogs of the Adirondacks