Berry Springs Preserve Herps of Texas report, 20Feb2023
In spite of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, there was a small group outing to Berry Springs Park and Preserve again this month.
Two amphibian species were observed in the main ponds, sloughs, and ditch in the pecan orchard (Rio Grande Leopard Frog at CI = 2 and Blanchard's Cricket Frog at CI = 3). All of the Rio Grande Leopard Frogs in the ditch were extremely wary - well before we could get within net range, they squeaked once and then disappeared under the water. This was interesting behavior that we had never seen before. The recorded Rio Grande Leopard Frogs were in the main ponds.
According to the USGS gauge station at Berry Creek at Airport Road near Georgetown, TX (https://waterdata.usgs.gov/monitoring-location/08105095/#parameterCode=00065&period=P7D), there had been one inch of rain/ice since the last monitoring event. The ponds and sloughs were full, and water was running over the main dam.
The monitoring period was 18:20 - 19:20.
Participants were Kathy, Christie, and Amy.
Environmental conditions at the main ponds at sunset:
Air temperature = 73.0 deg F
Water temperature = 71.4 deg F
Sky = no/few clouds
Water level = average
Relative humidity = 47 %