Jefferson
Active member
Here in Michigan, everything is pretty quiet as far as caudates go right now. The temps are dipping toward 0 at night, and the wind chills are horrible. However, the last two weeks have seen incredible temperature swings. Sightings have been coming in from everywhere south of the 40 degree latitude line of Jeffersons and Two-Liners, not to mention A. barbouri. As a Michigander, I am jealous. But, more than that, I am worried that a premature vernal pool migration would lead to eggs freezing, and a lost year of salamander juveniles. The same thing happened last year. Attending one of my favorite home spots in early March, I discovered that the migration had been over for more than two weeks, and that almost none of the juveniles had survived the inevitable cool-off. With temps projected to be in the 20s, it's not quite time for me to drop the pen and phone, and don the galoshes and poncho, but it could be a lot sooner than it's supposed to be. For anyone wishing to share their experiences with this, or report premature migrations, go ahead. For now, I'm doing a little bit of waiting, a little ecstatic research, and a little worrying. February 10th doesn't seem like a normal migration date anywhere north of Chattanooga, just saying.