Month: April 2024

Exploring Maryland’s Western Shore

We just spent a beautiful weekend exploring Maryland’s western shore. This region includes the counties that are on the west side of Chesapeake Bay. This trip our second time staying in Calvert County. The first time was in 2019 when we explored Flag Ponds Nature Park, Calvert Cliffs State Park, and Battle Creek Cypress Swamp. We returned to two of these locations, however this time it was Birder Boy’s (BB) first trip to the area.

Birding wasn’t our only goal on this trip. BB loves vehicles and he’s been into military vehicles recently. If you’re an aviation fan I highly recommend the Patuxent River Naval Air Museum, which was a really cool place to check out. As a birder I like how many of the planes are named after raptors such as the harrier, osprey, and hawkeye. We even saw a Broad-winged Hawk in the flight line area.

After the museum we took a quick hike at Battle Creek Cypress Swamp. Highlights include Yellow-throated Warblers, Blue-gray Gnatcatchers, Northern Parulas, Pine Warblers, and a Louisiana Waterthrush. We also heard many treefrogs and saw Black and Tiger Swallowtails.

Battle Creek Cypress Swamp (Image by Michelle Horowitz)

The next day we spent the morning at Flag Ponds Nature Park searching for fossils. Dave only found one small shark tooth, but BB had a blast digging at the beach. There was a lot of wildlife around: many calling tree frogs, tiger and zebra swallowtails, Ospreys, Yellow-throated Warblers, Yellow-rumped Warblers, a Swamp Sparrow, a male Belted Kingfisher, and more. Two of the most exciting finds of the day were a calling Prairie Warbler and two Killdeer. The Killdeer were calling ‘kill-deee, kill-deee’ and flying around the beach. Many times I see these cute conspicuous plovers in parking lots and other suburban/urban areas, so it’s fun to see them in a more natural habitat. They can be distinguished from other plovers by their double chest bands and red eyes.

Flag Pond Nature Park (Image by Michelle Horowitz)
Killdeer (Image by Michelle Horowitz)

There were also many Atlantic Lion’s Mane Jellyfish floating in the water. The size of this species depends on its geographically location. The lion’s mane jellyfish in the warm waters of the southeastern United States usually only grow up to 5-6 inches. However, individuals in the frigid Antarctic and Arctic waters can be up to 7 feet long which makes them the largest jellyfish species in the genus Scyphozoa. While not poisonous, these jellyfish have a moderately painful sting, so you should exercise caution if you around them.

Atlantic Lion’s Mane Jellyfish (Image by BirdNation)

In the afternoon on the second day we visited the Calvert Marine Museum. While birding was not our primary purpose we did see some species such as Purple Martins, Fish Crows, Common Grackles, and Mallards around Black Creek. We also watched this large Snapping Turtle swim under the dock.

It’s always a pleasure to visit Maryland. If you’re looking for a new location to explore I highly recommend Calvert County.

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Rise of the Spadefoot Toads!

On Friday April 12 I had a really uncommon and fascinating experience: the emergence of Eastern Spadefoot Toads!

Eastern spadefoot toad (Image by Michelle Horowitz)

A few months ago we moved back to New Jersey (more on that in a future post) and I resumed working at my old nature center as a naturalist. I was preparing for an amphibian presentation and a coworker was telling me about her experience with Eastern spadefoot toads, an elusive and rare frog in the northeastern United States. She said that in 2018 she witnessed a spadefoot eruption – where a large group of toads emerged in the center’s vernal pool to breed.

So you can imagine my excitement when she texted me Friday to say that the spadefoots were erupting at that moment. I rushed over to the center and was not disappointed.

Eastern spadefoot toads can be found throughout the eastern United States from Massachusetts to the Florida Keys and in parts of the interior southeast. They are rare and considered endangered in some states. 78% of frogs and toads have horizontal pupils, but spadefoot toads have distinctive bright yellow eyes with vertical pupils. Many species with vertical pupils, like the spadefoots, are active at night.

Spadefoot toad eyes floating in the vernal pool (Image by Michelle Horowitz)

Why was I in such a rush to observe the toads at the nature center? Spadefoot toads spend a majority of their lives in underground burrows, which they use their spade-like projections on their feet to excavate. They can stay in torpor (a state of decreased metabolic rate, low body temperature, and motor inactivity) for months at a time. They wait to emerge until warm, heavy rains of typically 2 or more inches in the spring and summer. Spadefoots feed at night, making them harder to observe. Although they can breed up to 3 times a year, if conditions are not right they can skip breeding completely for the year.

A view of the “spade” on a spadefoot toad (Image by Michelle Horowitz)

Spadefoot toads are considered explosive breeders. Explosive breeders use temporary bodies of water such as vernal pools. As a result they need to reproduce and develop quickly. Explosive breeder males will call females to the breeding site. The spadefoot male’s call is a low pitched ‘waaaah, waaaah’ that sounds similar to a crow’s ‘caw’. Once the females arrive and breeding commences they can lay between 800 to 4,500 eggs per event. Many times eggs can hatch within 24 hours and within 14 days juveniles will metamorphize and leave the area.

The experience of seeing the spadefoots at the nature center’s vernal pool was amazing. I’d estimate that there were at least 50-70 toads in the vernal pool. They were calling when I quietly approached the pool then stopped. Once they adjusted to my presence they started to call again. I could see little pairs of eyes emerge and float around the pool, with small groups rippling around together. I did get to see some mating using the amplexus position, where the male wraps his arms around the female’s torso. I could also clearly see the vocal sacs of many males expand and contract while calling and swimming.

The next day I was presenting a program at the center and went to check the vernal pool. There was no indication that less than 24 hours earlier there was a large number of mating toads loudly calling and swimming throughout the vernal pool. They disappeared as quickly as they emerged. I feel so lucky (and thankful to my coworker for informing me!) to be able to witness such an amazing and rare event.

Spadefoot toad (Image by Michelle Horowitz)
The male’s vocal sac (Image by Michelle Horowitz)
References