The spring peepers are calling now, steadily when it is warm enough. And the wood frogs have begun making their "grabble-ing" sound (I made that word up). It sounds a bit like ducks quacking or turkeys gobbling, or the "hubbub" sound used to simulate a crowd of people talking in old radio shows. You can hear it a little in the beaver wetland downstream from Harmonyville Road—and therefore from the visitor center here—and much louder from the far end of the creek trail, where the sound carries up out to Piersol Road again. Just remember that if you walk too close they will clam up for a few minutes.
We have had only a trace of rain so far this month and are down about 4" for the year so far. I'd say it's the driest spring I can remember, but I don't really remember and I didn't write it down. In any case, gardening season has arrived because the soil has dried out and is warming up. We'll just need some rain for anything to grow.
The lack of rain means there has been no dramatic mass migration of frogs and salamanders. They have crossed when it was only damp, though I did find two spotted salamanders smushed on our road—despite this being a lightly traveled road.
The red maple trees have started blooming, and alder catkins are dangling from their branches.
