Amphibian Event February/March 2025

Date: To Be Determined February/March 2025

Time: After 7:00 PM

Location: East Fork State Park Camping Area Parking Lot.

Join the Audubon Society of Ohio (Cincinnati) and the Greater Cincinnati Herpetological Society for a night out searching East Fork State Park for salamanders, frogs and anything else we can find.

If the conditions are right we can expect to see various salamanders including Spotted, Jefferson’s, Streamside, Two-lined, Eastern Newts and others that come out on warm rainy nights in late February and March looking for places to breed and lay eggs. While the salamanders are on the move we can also expect to find Spring Peepers, Western Chorus Frogs, Wood Frogs, American Toads and others that are also breeding and laying eggs. Warm is a relative term with nights 40F or above fitting the bill and a steady rain is required. Salamanders and frogs are utilizing the vernal pools created by the rains to lay their eggs. We can also expect to see egg masses left by salamanders in the vernal pools.

It is very difficult to predict when conditions will be right for amphibians to move so we are going to try something different this year. Anyone interested in attending this event will need to email me (Bill Stanley tyrannus58@gmail.com) your name and email address. When it appears that the conditions are going be right I will send an email out notifying the group that we will be meeting at East Fork. I will try to do this on a Friday or Saturday night so more can attend, but this event is driven by weather and I might not be able to choose a weekend night.

Dress for the weather! It will be raining and cold. Bring a flashlight and extra batteries. This trip requires a lot of walking at a slow pace. The complete route is will be about 5 miles. If the distance is to far you are welcome to do a portion of the walk.

To make this event a success and continue to do it in the future we need to put the WELFARE OF THE ANIMALS FIRST. The salamanders and frogs are small, slow and we look for them on wet roads in the dark making it difficult to see them. We have to take care not to step on them. These are wild animals and though they are easy to catch they should not be handled. We will not be picking up these animals, but if it is necessary to handle them then clean rubber gloves should be used or hand sanitizer should be used before and after handling an animal. Various diseases and fungi can be transferred from one animal to another through improper handling.

This will be an exciting night out and you will observe things that not many people get to see so sign up and come out to get a unique view of the world of some of our local salamanders and frogs.

Bill Stanley

tyrannus58@gmail.com