Nature: More than two dozen species spotted during 24-hour amphibian watch

A Kentucky spring salamander was found on Jim McCormac's recent 24-hour quest with Kelly Capuzzi, John Howard, and Aaron Crank/Jim McCormac

Nature: More than two dozen species spotted during 24-hour amphibian watch

Columbus Dispatch
May 1, 2022

NATURE
Jim McCormac

"Frog catching is the most fun a human being can have while on this earth."

— Jase Robertson

I’d sort of agree with the "Duck Dynasty" star. However, after the 20th hour or so, one grows weary.

Last year, Kelly Capuzzi, John Howard and I launched what you might believe to be a fool’s errand: the first-ever Ohio Amphibian Big Day. As no one has yet come forth to claim a previous effort, I’m sticking with our claim of being first. However, we may be the only ones mad enough to attempt this. Capuzzi is an aquatic biologist and Howard lives in Adams County and is a walking encyclopedia of flora and fauna.

In 2021, we started our 24-hour marathon at 11 a.m. on March 30, which ended the same time the next day. We were afield for 21 of the 24 hours, and covered parts of three counties: Adams, Brown, and Scioto. Our tally: 18 species.

There are 37 amphibian species in Ohio, and perhaps 32 of them are in striking distance of southern Ohio’s Adams County, our home base. Finding all of them would be nearly impossible, but we knew we could top 18 species.

Learning from our mistakes, we made several changes. Moving the Big Day back two weeks improved our odds of locating more species. We weeded out unproductive spots and added others to the itinerary. Most important, we added an amphibian all-pro to the team: Aaron Crank.

Twenty-three-year-old Crank is from Minford, in eastern Scioto County, and is a walking encyclopedia of herpetological knowledge. He knows the region like the back of his hand, and is near-magical at locating secretive frogs, salamanders and toads in the field.

Our quest began at noon on April 12. Crank could not join us until early evening, so Capuzzi, Howard and I darted about Adams and Brown counties, mostly picking off low-hanging fruit.

Surprisingly, our first find was not a gimme, a long-tailed salamander larva that Howard found under a creek rock. Next was a southern two-lined salamander, one of many that we would tally. The last frog to commence singing is the cricket frog, and they hadn’t fired up yet. Vocalizations make frogs far easier to detect. Nonetheless we found several around a pond. This is Ohio’s smallest amphibian. The warty frogs are about an inch in length.

A visit to a Brown County marsh added a slew of new checkmarks: American bullfrog, American toad, green frog, northern leopard frog, spring peeper, and western chorus frog.

By the time we met up with Crank at a remote spot in Scioto County, we were up to 14 species. Our new team member quickly helped wrangle the following salamanders: four-toed, Kentucky spring, marbled, mud, and spotted. We also added wood frog.

Darkness was falling, and we headed to some rocky crags near the Ohio River. We were after the rare green salamander, a cliff specialist that spends much time in tiny fissures. Success! We found four.

Nocturnal road-cruising — earlier rain created good conditions for amphibian activity — added mountain chorus frog, along with many species we’d already seen. A visit to a small lake surrounded by forest added pickerel frog, and several other species including the Kentucky spring salamander whose photo accompanies this column.

We retired to Howard’s Adams County house for a three-hour break at 4:30 a.m. Stumbling back out soon after daybreak we visited a stream near Minford where Crank soon netted a mudpuppy. These sensational aquatic salamanders can reach over a foot in length.

Our last stop was a woods where we located red-backed salamanders. This is a very common species in central Ohio, but is inexplicably absent in most of the region where our Big Day takes place. We can thank Crank for this one, too.

In all, we managed 25 species: one toad, nine frogs and 15 salamanders.

Records are meant to be broken, and we’ll try again next spring. If we can forgo sleep, another few species should be possible.

Naturalist Jim McCormac writes a column for The Dispatch on the first, third and fifth Sundays of the month. He also writes about nature at www.jimmccormac.blogspot.com.