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MA Press: March of the amphibians

wes_von_papineäu

Our Roving Correspondent
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METROWEST DAILY NEWS (Framlingham, Massachusetts) 06 April 08 March of the amphibians
Framingham: A crowd of nearly 60 people turned out for tours of amphibian migration to vernal pools in north Framingham Friday in an annual tradtiion known as Big Night.
Each spring, during the first rainy night with temperatures over 40F/4C degrees, wood frogs, spring peepers and spotted salamanders emerge from their frozen underground winter shelters to crawl to nearby vernal pools. The pools are the same pools were they began life as tadpoles.
Once in the pools, the amphibians mate over the course of the next week and then leave the pool to return to the forest. Salamanders and wood frogs can live for several years, repeating this ritual each spring.
Some communities, including Framingham and Lincoln, close roads near migration routes to decrease the number of critters squished by traffic.
Though Big night sometimes happens in one massive wave it often is dragged out over several nights. Friday night, observers saw few animals off Hemenway Road as some had already moved early in the week. Many of the people out Friday night in Framingham attended a vernal pool workshop last month to learn about the delicate cycle of these big puddles and sign up for an e-mail alert list, notifying when the tours would happen.
Once the frogs have moved into the vernal pools, the unmistakable quacking of wood frogs and high-pitch peep of spring peepers is a signal that spring has finally arrived.
http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/homepage/x295147952
 
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