Vibe Spring2025 - Flipbook - Page 47
“Big Nights” ahead for freshly active, slimy little critters on the move
Add the spotted salamander to the list of road
crossers in the Valley. Tin Mountain, and at
times, New Hampshire Stake Parks, will hold
a “Big Night(s)” event, typically in early April.
Such events are characterized by hundreds
of freshly active, slimy critters crawling their
slow way towards vernal pools. Inactive all
winter, their motivation, as soon as they wake
up from this strange slumber, is to move to a
vernal pool to find a mate.
While spotted salamanders can also be found
crossing West Side Road around the Cathedral
Ledge area, Tin Mountain will typically hold
their annual “Big Night” pop-up program, adjacent to vernal pools along Bald Hill Road in
Albany. Warm rainy nights, usually over 40 degrees, will bring about the big migration. Scan
the code below to be added to a Tin Mountain
list for additional information.
Thank you to local critter-saver, Carissa Milliman, for these images,
as well as her–and many others’–efforts to aid in the annual local
road-crossing, mate-searching migration.
on a warm, sunny April day. Once you
hear the sound, slowly make your way
toward its source. Wood frogs will stop
clucking once you get close. Don’t be
dismayed—this means you’re very
close. If you remain still, they will eventually restart their clucking pursuit of
mates and betray their breeding pool
to you. Look for bubbles in the water
and their snouts and eyes protruding
above the water line.
water’s edge. Many a curious kid or
camper has caught a pickerel frog over
the years, but many fewer hear their love
song in early spring.
For all amphibians and reptiles,
spring is a time when the instinctual
need to perpetuate the species comes
to light. Chorusing frogs and egg-laying
turtles are all part of the ritual of spring.
An attentive observer can find much to
discover and enjoy while looking and
listening for the change of the season.
Snoring Pickerel Frogs
On a still night at the end of April or in
early May, while the peepers are still
peeping and shortly after the wood
frogs have stopped their clucking,
head to a wetland with open water
and listen carefully. You might hear
the soft snores of the pickerel frog. The
pickerel frog’s vocalizations sound just
like a snore, or a hand being rubbed
across a balloon.
Like all frogs, pickerel frogs make
their sounds with their heads above the
water level. The elastic skin around their
throats inflates with air from their lungs,
reverberating their vocalizations beyond
what one would think could come from
their small size. Listen closely, though:
the sound of the pickerel frog doesn’t
carry far, and must be heard from the
Spring 2025
Tin Mountain Conservation Center offers
year-round opportunities to experience
nature as the ultimate classroom. With
over 2,000 acres of land and over 80 yearround nature programs, and summer and
winter camps, you can visit Tin Mountain’s Nature Learning Center in Albany,
NH or hike the trails at the Rockwell
property in Jackson, NH or Bear Paw Trail
in Fryeburg, ME. The Albany location
also features many trails and a 1.2-mile
accessible nature trail, which welcomes
everyone, and is highly recommended.
Additional information and events are
available at www.tinmountain.org.
ALL THAT’S MISSING IS YOU!
Bring drinking water, sleeping
bags and a cooler full of food.
OUR SECLUDED YURTS HAVE
EVERYTHING YOU NEED
FOR A PERFECT GETAWAY!
(802) 233-7010
www.FrostMountainYurts.com
Brownfield, ME
47
