Date: 3/26/21
Writer: Nathan
Location: ARC 194 (Rte 5 near UVAC)
Temperature was 47 degrees fahrenheit. Location was ARC 195, also known as Rte 5 next to the Upper Valley Aquatic Center (UVAC). Tme was 21:00. Weather was dry, though it had been raining all day up until about 2 hours previous. Road condition was damp. The sun had set at 19:30.
This was the first possible big night of the season but my partner and I still weren’t expecting much since it was so early in the year and the ground was still partially frozen. Nonetheless, we donned our reflective vests and headlamps, grabbed our data sheets, and equipped ourselves with a bucket and a spatula; then we hit the road.
When we arrived at UVAC, we saw two headlamps floating along the driveway. Expecting the headlamps to belong to humans who were also out looking for amphibians, we approached them. They were indeed seeking amphibians and were happy to have someone else along. This route was new to them but familiar to my partner and I so we were able to answer some of their questions; questions like, where does the route go to? Or how do you tell a squished wood frog from a squished peeper? And my partner and I got to ask some questions too; questions like how long have you been out here? Is this your first time helping frogs and salamanders cross the road? We talked while we worked and had a great time.
Four people working together felt a lot more comfortable than just two. One of us watched out for cars; one of us scraped amphibians with the spatula; one of us ferried the frogs across the road (no salamanders this night); and one of us recorded all the data. It took about one hour to walk the transect twice (once out and once back). In that time we had helped about 10 frogs to safety and scraped about thirty squished amphibians off the pavement. Twenty-ish times we had to step off the road to allow cars to drive by. We were all glad for the reflective vests.
I know that this experience was different from some other locations in the region. The roads near Dewey Mills Pond were reported to have zero amphibians; same for Quechee West Hartford Rd in West Hartford. Not all of the reports are in yet but all in all, it was a mixed bag.