Berry Springs Preserve Herps of Texas report, 31Mar2018

After recent heavy rains, we decided to make a special visit to Berry Springs Preserve and check out the wet weather pond north of the improved campground. Jim lives nearby, and although he said that he got three inches of rain at his house, the wet weather pond was not very big – a shorebird (Lesser Yellowlegs ?) was picking off insects along the perimeter, and Amy saw one Blanchard’s Cricket Frog (Call Index = 0) jump into the shallow water. It seemed like there had been very little runoff because the ground had been so dry.
So after about 45 quiet minutes, we moved to the ditch in the pecan orchard and the main ponds. There were a couple of Rio Grande Leopard Frogs in the ditch (CI = 1), and Blanchard’s Cricket Frog (CI = 3), Rio Grande Leopard Frog (CI = 1), and American Bullfrog (CI = 1) in the main ponds. However, seeing newly-returned Scissor-tailed Flycatchers and a beautiful full moon rising made up for a rather uneventful amphibian evening.
The monitoring period was 19:00 – 20:30.
Participants were Kathy, Mike & Amy, Christie, Jim, Diane & Donna, Mike & Mariah, Sue, and Hunter.

Posted on April 3, 2018 10:53 PM by