Survey

[justin]

Anyone know of stream surveys taking place in Ky for hellbenders? Most records seem to be old for literature I've reviewed and it seems like suitable habitat could be found on tributaries of the Ky river/Red River/and Harrods Creek areas?

 

[edward]

Hi Justin,
I think there are some surveys going on in Kentucky at the moment but I can't remember who is performing the studies. Due to the poaching issues, you probably will not see any recent publications that will list the localities being surveyed.

Ed

 

[justin]

Thanks Ed...I was reviewing some literature on hellbenders, mostly leads from this site, and being a native to Ky I was interested in their local status?

I frequent many back-country areas in eastern Ky and have never encountered any. Given that their breeding season is approaching it seems like a good time to survey for them at several locations. I'd like to report my findings to the Crypto-Interest Groups...perhaps it will lead to more through investigations?

 

[edward]

Hi Justin,
Actually unless you are very very careful (and know what to look for)in how you perform your survey, this could be the worst time to perform your survey as you could potentially be destroying nesting sites and disrupting reproduction.
What most people do not realize is that in most locations, hellbender populations have been fragmented to the point that most (or all) of a stream's population may be found in one or two riffles (in some cases in less than half a mile of habitat). This means that unless someone is willing to survey most of a stream sequentially then you could easily have missed many local populations. For example, in Maryland, the researchers had to lift on average 1800 flat stones of greater than a foot in width and length for each hellbender located. (It is not a project for those with a weak back).
If you want to do some surveys and look for them then I suggest that you wait until next June/July before going back out in the field.
For example the field work I am currntly engaging in will be over until mid Oct in two more weeks to allow any reproduction to occur and to let any eggs be brooded and potentially hatched.

Ed

 

[justin]

Sounds good. What about passive observation this time of year? Are you more likely to see them wandering about without disrupting/moving stones that could be potential nests?

 

[edward]

The increase in activity appears to be locally specific to some extent and may be restricted to some parts of the southern and western parts of the range, (for example it does not appear to be an effective method in PA, and NY....

Ed

 

[edward]

Mike,
I deleted your post as it was not helpful to the discussion at hand.

Ed

 

[edward]

update from the field,

Well got out to the southern end (downstream of the survey site) and worked about a mile of the 5 mile section.
Some signs were promising and some were very worrisome, crayfish were to put it mildly superabundent but there was signs to some degree of siltation. Some warm water fish were noted mainly bullhead catfish while several stonerollers and thier nests were sited. The water was pretty clear with a low turbity due to some suspended algae.
The only herps seen in two days of field work were several dozen green frog tadpoles and one northern water snake.
If the rains hold off, I will be back out in the field for several days this week and next week at which point I will need to probably stay out of the streams until mid to late Oct after the breeding season but there is still 4 more miles of this stream to go through.

 

[edward]

Here is a picture of what a hellbender stream should look like (still no benders but I still have about three miles of stream to go but I have to suspend activity until after the breeding season).