Holiday Herp Update: Current Herp Activity, Fundraiser — December 25, 2022

Current Herp Activity

Herpers, hopefully the above ground herp activity has ceased until the next warm and wet spell.  Though only two days ago on December 23, herper (and birder) Sue Wetmore reported hearing a calling Northern Leopard Frog when temperatures were in the 50’s and it had been raining steadily.  It is hard to imagine now, as temperatures outside are currently 21 F.  Over the 28 years of the Vt Herp Atlas, we have had reports of Northern Leopard Frogs, Spring Peepers, and Wood Frogs all calling in the late fall or early winter.  Prior to Sue Wetmore’s report though, the latest calling report of a Northern Leopard Frog was on October 27 back in 2012.   We have reports of Spring Peepers calling from the leaf litter during warm thaws in December (16 reports) and January (4 reports).  Reports of late-calling Wood Frogs are much rarer, with only two reports from November, one from December, and two from January.

Preston Turner and I checked Morgan Road for crossing amphibians in the early evening of December 23 when temps were still in the low 30’s F but dropping fast.  Thankfully for the amphibians, none were moving.  The last crossing movement we observed this year on Morgan Road was on the night of December 7th when we found adult Eastern Red-backed Salamanders (6) and two young-of-the-year Blue-spotted Salamanders still moving uphill during our 20 minute walk through the crossing area.

As I write this on December 25th, all one can hear outside my home is the sound of generators.  Hundreds of us in eastern Salisbury have been without power for three days now.

Our Annual Fundraiser has begun

We kicked off our annual Vermont Reptile and Amphibian Atlas fund raiser just before Christmas.  Please do check out our annual fundraising letter at:

https://www.vtherpatlas.org/support-and-funding/annual-fundraiser/

Your contributions make up the largest portion of our annual budget. The rest comes from grants and cost-share agreements. 

Donations can be made in a variety of ways:

Through our GoFundMe site (they take 2.9 percent of the payment plus 30 cents per transaction)  https://gofund.me/c24c4d34

By using the PayPal link on our website (they take 2.9 percent of the payment plus 30 cents per transaction)  https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/VtHerpAtlas

By sending a check made out to James S. Andrews to:

(no overhead is lost).

By sending a check made out to Vermont Family Forests to: The Vermont Reptile and Amphibian Atlas, 642 Smead Road, Salisbury, VT 05769. Vermont Family Forests is our fiscal sponsor and they are a registered 501(c)3 non-profit (they take 15% for overhead costs).  If your fund must send a donation directly to Vermont Family Forests, make sure to make it clear that the donation is for the Vermont Reptile and Amphibian Atlas.

Enjoy the holidays!