Mudpuppy Night in Oxford Mills, 30 January 2026

[Frederick W. Schueler]

Everyone,

-15°C, overcast, Force 2 breeze, a very sight trace of snow falling -
The snow seat-mounds from the Oxford-on-Rideau Grades 1&2 visit of a few
weeks ago still in the parkinglot - solid snow-covered ice above the dam
with only 1 bounding Mammal trackway on it, and some soggy-looking
yellow right above the spillways - spillways solidly sheathed with ice,
and a cluster of white columns of frozen foam beside the W spillway, the
tallest nearly a metre high - flow 5.82 cubic metres/second at 19h00
after wild fluctuations in the past 5 days (4.9-6.4), the average flow
is 4.3 cubic metres/second - Matt Keevil chopped away solid E side ice
with his pick-axe - the whole W side of the open water an eddy mostly
covered with round pans, and an angular 2m slab floating in the centre -
foam at the lower edge of the open water was white - ice cover across
the creek from above the dropoff to 4m below the bridge - W side woods
with deep snow and many trackways that seemed to be Grey Squirrels
(started in the open under trees, and then bounded away in a groove in
the loose snow).

The only aquatic creatures noted were Mudpuppies, a 31.5 cm one netted
and PIT tagged, one escaped capture, and one with only the head
protruding from under a ledge. The low numbers may be due to the flow
being almost the 6 cubic metres/second which is the flow where the
numbers begin to decline.

fred.
------------------------------------------------------------
---------Frederick W. Schueler & Aleta Karstad ------------
Fragile Inheritance Natural History - https://fragileinheritance.ca/
6 St-Lawrence Street Bishops Mills, RR#2 Oxford Station, Ontario K0G 1T0
on the Smiths Falls Limestone Plain 44.87156° N 75.70095° W
------------------------------------------------------------