Here they come!

Here in the Kitchener area we're moving into one of my favourite times of the year, the spring movement of amphibians.  Often starting out with a trickle (today's sightings limited to the photos below), in a week or two the wetlands will be busy with calling frogs, water bugs, and salamanders.

This morning I pulled my first of year Spring Peeper from a minnow trap at a study site near Guelph.  First of year visual that is, I had heard the call of one or two ambitious individuals weeks ago near Parkhill before things went cold again.  Typically a cross-like marking is visible but this one has a pretty solid pinkish colour to it, perhaps due to recent emergence (I'm not sure why this occurs).

My first Eastern Newt of the year brought a smile to my face.  These guys never look very impressed and are rather common in this part of Ontario but I always enjoy encountering them.

 An unexpected find in the trap was this Northern Redbelly Dace.  Having observed this study pond last fall as a bone dry mat of peat, seemingly disconnected from other waterbodies I wasn't expecting fish!