Water Closet for April 22, 2016

[pullquote]”The “oohs and aahs” upon finding water critters were about equal from folks of all ages.”[/pullquote] On  a fine bright afternoon, the second Sunday of April, a group of 50 people, 8 months to 8 decades plus in years, got underway on foot for a three mile spring hike in the mature forest of Middleton Pond’s large watershed. Baby Boden in bear suit rode in a knapsack on his strong mother’s slender back. Sometimes after these seasonal walks the Middleton Stream Team awards a prize to a champion hiker. It is usually given to a little kid with short legs who has taken three steps for every one by adults. Kids also zigzag and climb up and down a lot more. We figure they do 10 miles to our three. Had an award been given this spring it would have gone to mother Melissa and Boden, a close team, who could not easily be separated in rough places due to harness. They had to duck under and climb over fallen trees on the pathless routes between the vernal pools visited. For three hours we never heard a peep from lucky Boden or saw a sign of fatigue from Melissa who also had to keep an eye out on two other young sons, Max and Landen. Max did get separated from family for a while which caused some consternation among other hikers who searched a bit and soon got them all together.

Modern art in an April vernal pool. The artist was a female yellow spotted salamander who laid her egg masses on a frame of submerged twigs. – Donna Bambury photo

Approximately half the hikers were under 12; about a half dozen over 70. The “oohs and aahs” upon finding water critters were about equal from folks of all ages. Along the north edge of a lovely-long-shaded-pool, no one we know of who dipped nets above and among last years’ oak leaves on the bottom of pools kept written tallies of their finds. Here is a list of a few names heard: yellow spotted salamander egg masses, wood frog egg masses, hatched tadpoles, fairy shrimp, dragon fly larvae, caddis fly larvae, midge larvae, water striders, water mites, isopods, scuds, various beetles, water boatmen, red backed salamander, four toed salamander, plus ribbon and garter snakes, predators of the others. Many were simply called “What’s that?” As Stream Team leader Sandy Rubchinuk wisely taught ahead of time to adult guides, “The observations and the questions raised are more important than the names.” The late Richard Feynman, world famous physicist, wrote that his father said something similar when Richard was a lad. The great physicist later passed this wisdom on to his students and colleagues. Anyway, names or not, the ephemeral “pools are alive” this time of year, not with the sound of music but with organisms multiplying, growing, eating, or just hanging out. A few sing in our frequency range when folks are not too close. There could be much more music than we think. The daily-higher sun warms the water, especially the dark eggs and active organisms within. Early April’s 5 inches of snow that fell into 48 degree F water was quickly gone, probably with little effect. The many pools throughout the woods, an estimated 200 in Middleton alone, were on April 10^th still relatively deep and clear. The green cells of algae and floating mosses emanated oxygen bubbles from photosynthesis that glistened in the sun. The gelatinous egg masses of frogs and salamanders were also green with live-in symbiotic algae paying their rent with oxygen and food.
Around the quiet pools the human visitors were in high spirits especially the young ones who could not be kept from galloping on the rough, rocky branch strewn terrain. Parents, to their credit, gave them pretty much free rein. One old timer when expressing this thought wondered if he needed to define “rein”. Should he rather say, “free steering wheel and throttle pedal?” High ledge when found was climbed by the youngsters, fortunately no one tumbled down. It was as the old timers remembered when they were young, energetic and free. One lad did get hit accidentally in the brow by a carelessly swung staff. We have long noticed on our hikes that boys readily arm themselves with sticks. They enthusiastically attack trees and low branches. Is this behavior from survival genes long ago evolved in the bush?

Boden in bear suit on the back of his mother Melissa Boutilier. – Donna Bambury photo

In time the rabbitty would-be warriors and defenders slowed down for short periods, some asking, “How much longer?” For a while it looked like the old turtles might win the race. Unbeknown to the kids, the turtles would be napping later. The young would then be playing at something else. Back in the woods the vernal pool animals sharing some very ancient genes with the noisy visitors would be running their life cycles against the clock, their DNAs saying, “Lets get out of here or at least leave eggs before this pool dries up.”
_____________________________________________________________________________WATER RESOURCE AND CONSERVATION INFORMATION
FOR MIDDLETON, BOXFORD AND TOPSFIELD`

Ipswich R. Flow Rate (S. Middleton USGS Gage) in Cubic Feet/ Second (CFS):
For April 19, 2016  Normal . . . 105 CFS     Current Rate . . . 78 CFS
*Danvers Water Filtration Plant, Lake Street, Middleton is the source for actual precipitation data.
Normals data is from the National Climatic Data Center.
THE WATER CLOSET is provided by the Middleton Stream Team: www.middletonstreamteam.org or         <MSTMiddletonMA@gmail.com> or (978) 777-4584