Herp Update: Green Frog Eggs, Spotted Turtle, Website, Upcoming Presentation – July 14, 2024

Recent Herp Activity

People are now reporting sightings of Green Frog eggs.  Green Frogs deposit a film of eggs on the surface of the water (see photos below).  Since they deposit their eggs so late in the season, the water is warm.  Since the water is warm, it contains less dissolved oxygen.  So in order for oxygen to reach each embryo in an egg mass, it is better to lay a film of eggs rather than a rounded mass.

Brian Carter got this unusual shot of three male Green Frogs in a row trying to amplex a female Green Frog at the head of the line. We have seen multiple male Wood Frogs trying to mate with a single female, but never in a line like this.

Erin Talmage photographed this Green Frog egg mass over a few day period and we were amazed at how fast they developed.

Erin took this photo only three days after the photo above and the tiny Green Frog tadpoles are already hatched and visible below the remnants of the egg mass.

American Bullfrogs continue to call.  As we mentioned in our last Herp Update, please keep your ears open for their deep jug-o-rum call and photograph or record any that you hear or see.

Reports of nesting female turtles seem to have come to an end, so hopefully you won’t see as many on the road surfaces for the rest of the summer.

Gray Treefrogs continue to call from trees on warm humid days.

Reports of this-years-young Wood Frogs and American Toads that have recently metamorphosed continue to come in.

Spotted Turtle Reported

Spotted Turtles are Vermont’s rarest turtles with only three known populations in Vermont.   An experienced observer found one of those turtles and took some great photos just a week ago (see below). Spotted Turtles are also our smallest turtle, with full-sized adults reaching only  4-5 inches.  They prefer large bogs and fens and do not wander far out of those wetlands, making them difficult to find.

Kathryn photographed this rare Spotted Turtle near one of our three known populations. This is the back shell or carapace.

Here is Kathryn’s photo of the plastron of the Spotted Turtle that she found.

Any turtle with this pattern on the plastron should be reported to us at VtHerpAtlas.org: Wood Turtle, Blanding’s Turtle, and Spotted Turtle.

Website Issue

The security certificate for our website expired a few days ago.  We hope to have that updated next week.  Until then, you can still access our website, but it takes some perseverance.  It will warn you that our website is unsafe, but it really has not changed any.  Our apologies for the short-term inconvenience.

Upcoming Events

I (Jim Andrews) will be giving a Powerpoint presentation at the Salisbury Community Church in Salisbury at 7:00 PM on Thursday, July 18.  The focus of my PowerPoint presentation will be The Snakes and Turtles of the Lake Dunmore area.  The presentation is free and open to the public.

Vermont Fish and Wildlife biologist Noel Dodge shot this amazing photo of fourteen Ring-necked Snakes (and one Common Gartersnake) on a single log.