Burn Henry Ford in Effigy Night comes early after a wet summer...

[Frederick W Schueler]

...and it looks like tonight is it.

The slaughter on Co Rd 18, coming south from Kemptville, began in a
modest way at Hutchins Corner, but it picked up enormously south of the
Co Rd 20 bridge, peaking at 1 dead frog / 2m of rd at the slope up to
the deButtes' place, 1.5 km NE of Bishops Mills, but continuing pretty
dolorously right along to the village.

In places (especially the curve known as the Red Horse Corner) waves of
little Leopard Frogs were heading across the road towards the Middle Creek.

I'll have more after I'm back from a foot patrol.

fred.
------------------------------------------------------------
Bishops Mills Natural History Centre
Frederick W. Schueler & Aleta Karstad
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
------------------------------------------------------------
If we'd been meant to refer to species by made-up vernacular names,
God wouldn't have created Linnaeus!
------------------------------------------------------------

[Steve Marks]

Just as I was to report lots of chorus frogs calling singly in Windsor for
the last two weeks! Yes, I'm aware I'm as far away from the area as I could
be in Ontario... but I thought it was interesting anyway!
Steve

[Frederick W. Schueler]

Steve Marks wrote:
> Just as I was to report lots of chorus frogs calling singly in Windsor for
> the last two weeks!

* and lots of Peepers and Treefrogs calling here - many of the Treefrogs
scratchily, as if they're last year's young, calling for the first time.

Does anyone have Chorus Frogs calling locally?

[Bill Bowman]

I had Peepers calling at Chelsea tonight and at Blue Sea Lake on Sunday.
Bill

----- Original Message -----
From: "Frederick W. Schueler" <bck...@istar.ca>
To: <natur...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Tuesday, September 22, 2009 10:08 PM
Subject: [naturelist - new] Re: fall calling comes early after a wet
summer...


>

[Frederick W. Schueler]

Frederick W Schueler wrote:

> I'll have more after I'm back from a foot patrol.

* and after doing the 267m of "Our Streets" in the village (streets 95%
dry, 19C, overcast, Beaufort Light air), I've got the following totals:

Leopard Frog Toad

Mill St 2 DOR, 1 AOR small DOR
Intersection 9 DOR
Main St small AOR
CoRd18: Roland's 3 DOR large DOR
CoRd18: Weirs House 2 DOR - 1 Bull Frog
CoRd18: Pipers House 10 DOR, 1 AOR

...so that's about 1 dead Leopard Frog/10m of streets. Thank you, Mr
Ford. It's interesting that the Green Frogs, which dominated the counts
until mid August, have been totally unrepresented in the past three days.

[Frederick W. Schueler]

Frederick W Schueler wrote:

> I'll have more after I'm back from a foot patrol.

* and now, after doing CoRd 18 NE out of the village (streets dry, 19C,
overcast, Beaufort Light Air, 23h50-24h19), I've got 2.25 kg of dead
frogs, mostly Leopard Frogs, but with some Green & Bull Frogs, a couple
of juvenile Toads, and 1 Cepaea snail (from mid-road at Taylors'
Garage). I did about 250m of road, so rather than reckoning frogs/m we
can say that there was about 10 grams of dead frog per metre (though of
course I only got a small fraction of the mass of the more severely
impacted bodies). I saw only one vehicle, and 8 AOR Leopard Frogs, one
wounded on the road (WOR), and 2 live juvenile Toads. The living ones
moved very quickly in this warm temperature. A few Peepers called
sporadically and I heard some smooth descending notes that, had they
"whinnyed" I'd have said were a Screech Owl.

My haul was 10 kg of frog flesh per km, in a single night, which surely
represents a significant nutrient flux from the surrounding fields,
streams, and woods onto the road shoulders. No wonder the roadside
vegetation is so quick-growing, and requires so much cutting! I'd
encourage the municipality to harvest what they cut as biomass or hay,
so that the roadside vegetation would be depleted of plant nutrients,
and wouldn't be so lush, and fewer Animals would be encouraged to live
beside the roads and be hit in their turn.

But I don't suppose that "Nutrient-depleted Verges" is a motto that
would stir the blood of a municipal politician or staff.

[RMB]

Peepers, treefrogs, and a pickerel frog snoring loudly from the grass under
one of our picnic tables Sunday afternoon.

Of course in that sunny warmth many cicadas were still calling, and an
eastern phoebe fired up. I whistled back and forth with him a few times
Sunday and Monday.

Rose-Marie, Perth Road Village.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Frederick W. Schueler" <bck...@istar.ca>
To: <natur...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Tuesday, September 22, 2009 10:08 PM

Subject: [naturelist - new] Re: fall calling comes early after a wet
summer...


>

[I Macaulay]

RE: "Green Frogs, which dominated the counts

until mid August, have been totally unrepresented in the past three days."

Gottem all did they?  

Ian

---

From: Frederick W. Schueler <bck...@istar.ca>
To: natur...@googlegroups.com

Sent: Tue, September 22, 2009 11:39:20 PM
Subject: [naturelist - new] Re: Burn Henry Ford in Effigy Night comes early after a wet summer...

[vkirk...@igs.net]

Quoting "Frederick W. Schueler" <bck...@istar.ca>:

>
> Does anyone have Chorus Frogs calling locally?
>
> fred.

No Chorus. Occasional Tree, frequent Peeper. I have not heard a Bull
Frog at all this year.

Valerie Kirkwood
Acton's Corners

[RMB]

Frogs were all over the place last night. The rain and warm temps really
brought them out. I was prowling about with the camera trying to get pics
of the setting moon, had to be careful I didn't step on leopard, pickerel,
and green frogs. One mid-size bullfrog was sitting on the swimming steps,
good to see one after having had 30 heron nests nearby at the beginning of
summer. I saw no bullfrogs on the beaches, usually there's 5 or 6 of them
over the course of summer.

Several peepers were calling, 2 of them over by the frog pond sounded as
though they were having a competition.

Porkie's still around, aside from having to watch out for frogs it was
grazing the lawn again.

Rose-Marie, Perth Road Village

----- Original Message -----
From: <vkirk...@igs.net>
To: <natur...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Thursday, September 24, 2009 9:23 AM
Subject: [naturelist - new] Re: fall calling comes early after a wet
summer...

>

[Aleta Karstad]

Just a reminder about the Slug biology & identification workshop which will be ongoing from Monday to Friday here at the Bishops Mills Natural History Centre.  

Ulrich Schneppat has arrived from Switzerland and has discovered some very interesting slugs in his excursions over the past few days.  There has been very little study of slugs in Canada, and the field is wide open for amateurs to get involved.

Call or e-mail me for further information & registration.  Single and part days are open for people who are interested but have limited time.  Instruction will be largely informal, so beginners may start at any time.  

Any slugs that you can collect and bring along will be examined and discussed.  The best time to find slugs out and about is between 10:00 pm and midnight, though some also come out at dusk.  If you look for slugs in the daytime, be sure to turn cover like wood, logs, paper, etc.

Food will be provided, though you could also bring some to share.  $$ donations of any amount will be helpful.  Formal registration fees will be arranged for those who arrange to be reimbursed by their institutions.

No deadline on registrations.  However, to plan for space and food, please rsvp as soon as possible.

Aleta

(613) 258-3107

==========

[Frederick W. Schueler]

Aleta Karstad wrote:
> ...the Slug biology & identification workshop which

> will be ongoing from Monday to Friday here at the Bishops Mills Natural
> History Centre.
>
> Ulrich Schneppat has arrived from Switzerland and has discovered some
> very interesting slugs in his excursions over the past few days. There
> has been very little study of slugs in Canada, and the field is wide
> open for amateurs to get involved.

* yesterday Aleta, Ulrich, Phillip Scott, and Don McAlpine went up to
Ottawa to see the CMN collection, and were told of a long term colony of
Limax maximus (see http://pinicola.ca/limax.htm ) in Ottawa, which they
visited, giving Project Limax its first living, wild-caught Canadian
specimens.

Then, at night, Ulrich, Phillip Scott, Don McAlpine, and I went out to
Limerick Forest, and while not many organisms were active the species
diversity was astonishing, including the native slugs Philomycus &
Pallifera, and leadback Redback Salamanders (Plethodon) and a
triploidish Ambystoma from the laterale complex.

Today Rob Lee, Barb Gartner, and Eric Snyder arrived, the microscopes
are in heavy use, and we're going to start the semi-formal sessions as
soon as an errends party returns from Kemptville. Anyone interested in
learning about slugs, or in having slugs identified, is welcome to drop
in, or send pictures...

> ... Single and

> part days are open for people who are interested but have limited time.
> Instruction will be largely informal, so beginners may start at any time.
>
> Any slugs that you can collect and bring along will be examined and
> discussed. The best time to find slugs out and about is between 10:00
> pm and midnight, though some also come out at dusk. If you look for
> slugs in the daytime, be sure to turn cover like wood, logs, paper, etc.
>
> Food will be provided, though you could also bring some to share. $$
> donations of any amount will be helpful. Formal registration fees will
> be arranged for those who arrange to be reimbursed by their institutions.
>
> No deadline on registrations. However, to plan for space and food,
> please rsvp as soon as possible.

fred.

[Aleta Karstad]

NatureListers,

Swiss slug expert Ulrich Schneppat's presentation to the Macoun Club on Saturday went very well.  The parents had to wait for a long time for their kids to be willing to leave!  

Don McAlpine of the New Brunswick Museum arrived on Sunday evening, and on Monday morning our young volunteer Philip Scott joined us. On Tuesday, Eric Snyder attended, with Rob Lee and Barbara Gaertner who both hope to return for Thursday.  Today and tomorrow we have Mike Oldham from NHIC in Peterborough.  Don and Isabelle will be with us until Friday.

The workshop began with examination of live specimens, and in the afternoon a trip to view the slug collection at the Canadian Museum of Nature.  We recieved information about the presence of a population of the giant introduced slug  Limax maximus in Nepean, and on our return, collected several from a composter, yard, and tree at a house in the Navaho/Maitland area.  Isabelle Picard had arrived in the afternoon from Sherbrooke, and there was an expedition to Limerick Forest to collect slugs after dark. 

On Tuesday Ulrich gave us an overview of slug taxonomy and research in Europe and introductions of species, description of the Limax research he's been involved in, a discussion of life history, anatomy, care and observation of live slugs, the importance of proper killing and preservation, and how amateurs can contribute to knowledge of slugs. 

We are all learning to preserve and dissect the slugs we have collected, and have found some exciting surprises already!  I will post a summary of this week's discoveries after the workshop is finished.  

It is a tremendous privilege and opportunity to have Ulrich visit, and he will be leaving a core of new enthusiasts behind to carry on the study of slugs in Canada.

Aleta

================

On 29-Sep-09, at 5:21 PM, Fenja Brodo wrote:

Hi Aleta,

   Thank you for thinking of us. I am aware of your slug workshop and am pleased that Macoun Club members will be involved in this. Unfortunately we are busy with some house renovations this week, starting today, and yesterday (Monday) was Yom Kippur so I couldn't come anyway.

Best wishes,

Fenja

 

----- Original Message -----

From: Aleta Karstad

To: Fenja Brodo

Sent: Sunday, September 27, 2009 3:08 PM

Subject: Fwd: [naturelist - new] slug biology & identification workshop starts on Monday at BMNHC

Fenja,

I have been meaning to contact you about our slug identification workshop, because I think that you may be interested, and you may not be receiving or reading NatureList messages.  

If you can come, it would be great fun!

If you are disappointed by the short notice, and can't come but would have liked to, my apologies for not e-mailing you sooner!

Hope you and Irnie are well.

Aleta

==============

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