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The Conservation Commission's outing
to the Vernal Pool!
On Saturday, May 7th, we had our third annual Vernal Pool
visit.
Conservation Commission members Arin Mills, Carol Andrews
and Nan Schwartz joined Washington Elementary School children
for an educational presentation at the Elementary School on
the Friday before vacation. They shared the presentation with
hands on activities and taught them about vernal pools. Arin
was lucky to find a beautiful pair of Spotted Salamanders
for everyone to observe.
Spotted Salamander picture from
Flickr
After a trip to another vernal pool that morning we also brought
a frog, frog and salamander eggs, a couple of red efts, some
water bugs and larvae to look at and touch. Arin brought some
Fairy Shrimp from a pool near her workplace and explained
that they are an "obligate species", meaning that they are
only found in a vernal pool, so if you find them in a pool
it is definitely a vernal pool.
Fairy shrimp picture from
Cornell
The kids learned that vernal pools are wet for only part of
the year (spring and fall) filling up with snow melt and rain.
They are safe for egg laying and early development for frogs,
salamanders and other creatures because no fish live in these
pools, giving them a much better chance to grow without being
eaten. The children had lots of their questions answered and
got to observe some vernal pool inhabitants and hold frogs
and the other pool creatures (carefully and gently!).
We had hoped to schedule the visit for the next day but the
weather was cold causing the activity in the vernal pool to
be delayed.
So, on the first Saturday morning in May, children and their
parents joined Commission members and visited our local vernal
pool. The pool is a large one located off Faxon Hill Road.
With the permission of the property owners (thanks again to
the Parker Family!), we explored and looked for the creatures
who inhabit the pool every spring.
Carol Andrews and Arin Mills again led the enthusiastic and
curious crowd in finding quite a variety of bugs, larvae,
tadpoles, salamanders, eggs and more!
Arin, with her hip waders on, went to the deep spots to find
the more elusive creatures.
We had lots of information to help identify what we found.
Spotted Salamander eggs attached to a branch.
We found things this year that we hadn't seen before. Here
is a list of some of the creatures we found in the vernal
pool:
Mosquito larvae - again lots of these, watch out for lots
of mosquitos this summer!
Water boatman (beetle)
Frog eggs
Frog polywogs - just hatched
Spotted salamander eggs
Red-spotted newt/Red eft
Water striders
Caddisfly (mostly the log-cabin type)
Fingernail Clams
Midge larvae
Armed with nets, buckets, tubs, spoons and magnifying glasses
everyone had a wonderful time discovering all the pool's critters.
Wiggly midge larvae.
The kids weren't shy at all about jumping right in to explore,
everyone had a great time. Some ended the day a bit wetter
than others.
Double click on the picture below to see some of the action!
All the creatures
made it back to the pool safely to develop and grow and hopefully
they will return as adults next year to lay the next generation
of eggs.
Thanks to all who joined us on our wonderful visit, if you
missed the trip this year we hope you can join us next year
for our morning of discovery at the vernal pool.
Many thanks to Mrs. Lull at WES, for letting us have time
during the school day for our presentation and for lending
us some of the school's great equipment for exploring the
natural world.
Thanks to Jed Schwartz for the great pictures and the
movie!
To see pictures from an earlier Vernal Pool visit, click here:
2009
Vernal Pool pictures
2010
Vernal Pool pictures
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