Mudpuppy report

[Fred Schueler]

Everyone,

I wonder how one characterizes the hat-trick of being late for an
event three weeks in a row because of the inability to wrench
ourselves away from supper with guests who have come to experience the
event? Maybe it just shows that we're better at self-wrenching when
we're alone than we tend to give ourselves credit for. In this case
one proximal cause of the delay was having to ask Matt and Amanda to
provide transportation for us and the lights and buckets, since our
van's power steering had decided to make strange sounds, and there
wasn't room for us in Cheryl's van, because it was so thronged by
children.

Matt and Amanada also took the big light and did the counting, while
Cheryl's Eric did the catching, leaving me with little to do other
than answer questions, and reflect that we inevitably seem to forget
to bring one item of equipment, which in this case was my gloves,
carefully laid out at home, but not remembered as we lept up from
supper.

28 December 2012 - Canada: Ontario: Grenville County:
Oxford-on-Rideau: Kemptville Creek, just below Oxford Mills Dam. (50m
waypoint), 31B/13, 44.96481N 75.67827W TIME: 2016-2052. AIR TEMP:
-16.5, clear, calm. HABITAT: brown-water creek at limestone flats
below old milldam, water murky, 0 C. OBSERVER: Matt G. Keevil, Amanada
Bennett, Frederick W. Schueler, Aleta Karstad Schueler, Cheryl Doran &
Linda Mellway . . . and Linda & Cheryl's extended families, plus
others not enumerated. 2012/377/e, Necturus maculosus (Mudpuppy)
(herp). 65 adults, light, dipnetted. both large & small all around
flats. If we attributed low numbers in early December to the adults
staying downstream for mating,than this signals their return from
reproductive activity to feeding.

None seen in deep water or from bridge because of ice cover. 9 at
downstream end of flats, 25 on west-side flats, 19 in midstream, 6 at
east-side spillway ledge, and 6 on the east-side flats. Counted by
Matt & Amanada.

One large and 4 small caught by Eric Tourrilhes by dipnet. no fish,
frogs, or Crayfish seen.

There were shelves of thin ice covered with deep snow on all shores,
though only a thin layer of snow on the ice under the bridge, showing
it had frozen recently. On the east side there was a patch of foam
flowerpans, and steam was coming off the water, both in agreement with
the low temperature. There continued to be a lot of "sediment"
(=Diatoms?) on the bottom, but it was hardtojusdge the murkiness of
the water because nodeep water was uncovered, and the rising steam
confused visibility. Water coming over all three spillways, and some
ice building up in the spillways, but not occluding any of them yet.

fred
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Frederick W. Schueler & Aleta Karstad
Bishops Mills Natural History Centre - http://pinicola.ca/bmnhc.htm
Mudpuppy Night in Oxford Mills - http://pinicola.ca/mudpup1.htm
Daily Paintings - http://karstaddailypaintings.blogspot.com/
South Nation Basin Art & Science Book
http://pinicola.ca/books/SNR_book.htm
RR#2 Bishops Mills, Ontario, Canada K0G 1T0
on the Smiths Falls Limestone Plain 44* 52'N 75* 42'W
(613)258-3107 <bckcdb at istar.ca> http://pinicola.ca/
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