Field notes of Frederick W. Schueler: 2002-2003 Mudpuppy Nights in Oxford Mills, Kemptville Creek, North Grenville Township (Oxford-on-Rideau geographic township), United Counties of Leeds and Grenville, Ontario, Canada
This is the fifth year of regular Mudpuppy night outings - the first really cold winter since we began, and with the lowest water levels, which made it possible to survey the bottom in midstream more completely than ever before. Light provided by quartz-halogen spotlights and headlamps. Text output from the EoBase database; UTM grids NAD27 Canada in military grid notation, lat/long WGS84 (=NAD83).
25 October 2002
Oxford Mills Dam, Kemptville Creek. UTM 18TVE 464.5 790.5 44.96486N 75.67863W. TIME: 2015-2105. AIR TEMP: 3, overcast, calm. HABITAT: low-water creek@limestone flats blw old milldam, water 6 C. OBSERVER: Frederick W. Schueler, Jennifer Helene Schueler, Mat Scott, Ch. & Th.Graham, Jeanne Lambert, Valerie Kirkwood. 2002/233/aa, Necturus maculosus (Mudpuppy). 12 adult, active, seen. Mudpuppy Night outing with searchlight. We saw 12 Mudpuppies from the bridge, and in the deep water above the bridge, but none above the shallow crossing, as if they didn't pass the shallow riffle to go up to the 30 cm water just below the dam. There was a full range of sizes, from a few quite small ones (ca 15 cm) to one really big (>30 cm) one.
I'd announced: "This Friday, 25 October, will be the year's first Mudpuppy Night in Oxford Mills. Since the water levels are low, we may see a fair number of early wanderers, though these early outings often reveal more Frogs, Crayfish, Pike, and other creatures than Mudpuppies."
. . . and this proved to be an accurate prediction, and though there were no Pike, a lot of the Mudpuppies looked like they were staying mostly under cover as if afraid of big predators. We scanned the bottom with the searchlight both above and below the bridge, and then walked around and waded all through the flats above the drop-off ledge. The water was 30 cm below the ledge of the 'Vantage Point, ' perhaps the lowest we've ever noted, and at the shallow crossing halfway between the bridge and the dam, the water was just a shallow mossy trickle (which Jennifer splashed across in dress shoes), perhaps 5-7 cm deep at the deepest. The water was very clear, and 3 C warmer than the air at 6 C.
So (shame! shame!) Jennifer and I once again arrived late at the site, and we've once again (shame! shame!) failed to start visiting the creek before the Mudpuppies have become active (some years we've started with the water at 14 C - there's not much water this year, so it seems to have cooled off early), but the kids had a good time netting up Bull Frogs and Mudpuppies, and Theresa Graham saw her first Mudpuppy.
(same location) TIME: 2015-2105. 2002/233/ab, Orconectes virilis (Northern Crayfish) . 20 ca adult, active, seen. largish, active out on the rocks.
(same location) TIME: 2015-2105. 2002/233/ac, Belostomatidae (Giant Water Bug) (entomological). 20 ca mature, seen. queiescent on the bottom in 20 cm of water.
(same location) TIME: 2015-2105. 2002/233/ad, Lepomis (Sunfish) (fish). 25 ca adult, active, seen. 10-20 cm, with Micropterus blw dam, no large fish seen.
(same location) TIME: 2015-2105. 2002/233/ae, Rana catesbeiana (Bull Frog) (herp). 5 adult, seen. 3 ads, 2 juvs. Amphibians were represented by 3 100 mm Bull Frogs lying quietly (until 2 - both females - were netted up) on the bottom in 70-100 cm, and 2 small 50-65 mm SVL juveniles in shallower sites (30 cm).
(same location) TIME: 2015-2105. 2002/233/af, Rana pipiens (Leopard Frog) (herp). 1 juvenile, active, seen. large juv, green, in flowing water blw riffle over ledge.
1 November 2002
Oxford Mills Dam, Kemptville Creek. UTM 18TVE 464.5 790.5 44.96486N 75.67863W. TIME: 2002-2052. AIR TEMP: -5, clear, calm. HABITAT: low-water creek@limestone flats blw old milldam, water 4 C, shallows skimmed with ice. OBSERVER: Frederick W. Schueler, R.M.Rankin, Jonathan Crowe. 2002/235/aa, Necturus maculosus (Mudpuppy). 13 adult, food, active, seen. Mudpuppy Night outing with searchlight. 2002-2020 h: 5 seen upstream from bridge, 4 in 2 pairs within 70 cm proximity of each other, and then another two below the bridge (on the E side) also within 1 m of each other.
2020-2050 h (after Mike Rankin & Jonathan Crowe had arrived). We saw some of the same ones from the bridge, and then just above the W bridge abutments, there were 3 in shallow water near shore, including 1 under a skim of ice and 10 cm of water, and another that had the head of a ca 45 mm SVL Rana catesbeiana (Bull Frog) wedged into its mouth, and was lying quietly on the bottom. All three of these were about medium size (ca 25 cm). Mike waded around under the bridge (in chest waders) and saw 2 more, 1 of which was large, which brings the total to 13.
We scanned the marvelously clearly-visible bottom with searchlights both above and below the bridge, and then walked around and waded all through the flats above the drop-off ledge. The water was 35 cm below the ledge of the 'Vantage Point, ' and there were no Necturus above the the shallow crossing halfway between the bridge and the dam (where the water was a mossy trickle 5 cm deep at the deepest) - but also none in the deeper water below the ledge there. We were able to examine the whole bottom in detail, as there was no place where the current was strong enough to ripple the surface. The water was very clear, and 9 C warmer than the air at 4 C, though that was in the main flow beneath the dam, and there was a skim of ice over the shallows along the shores.
(same location) TIME: 2002-2052. 2002/235/ab, Rana catesbeiana (Bull Frog) (herp). 2 juvenile, prey of predator, active, seen. 1 ca 65 mm SVL in midstream, 1, SVLca 45 mm, prey of 26 cm Necturus. The first was right out on the flat bottom in 20 cm of water, a few metres below the dam. The second is our second observed instance of feeding by Necturus here, and the first we've been able to closely observe.
(same location) TIME: 2002-2052. 2002/235/ac, Rana pipiens (Leopard Frog) (herp). 3 juvenile, prey of predator, active, seen. 2 65-70 mm SVLMM near ledge just blw dam, another near shore. The first 2 were clinging to ledges near the Vantage Point, and the third was in the coarse-gravelly shallows just above the bridge on the W side.
(same location) TIME: 2002-2052. 2002/235/ad, Belostomatidae (Giant Water Bug) (entomological). 2 mature, active, seen. in coarse-gravelly shallows near shore, 30 cm depth.
(same location) TIME: 2002-2052. 2002/235/ae, Orconectes virilis (Northern Crayfish) . 10 ca adult, active, seen. on rocks, not as many as last week.
(same location) TIME: 2002-2052. 2002/235/af, Micropterus dolomieui (Smallmouth Bass) (fish). several adult, active, seen. largest ca 30 cm, severalsmaller ones. Many fewer Centrachidaes than last week, but moderate numbers of Cyprinids, and lots of Etheostoma.
(same location) TIME: 2240-2255. AIR TEMP: -10, clear, calm. HABITAT: low-water creek@limestone flats blw old milldam, shallows skimmed with ice. 2002/235/b, Necturus maculosus (Mudpuppy). 12 adult, active, seen. 10 above, 2 blw bridge, seen with searchlight from bridge. Came out here after a one-bill supper, which RMR accompanied with such a tip that that the Brigadoon staff stuttered as they thanked him for it.
Only two of these were associated as a pair. Lots of small (10-20 cm) Centrachidae quiescent in the water - these weren't here before 2100 h. Also 1 Rana (True Frog) seen.
8 November 2002
Oxford Mills Dam, Kemptville Creek. UTM 18TVE 464.5 790.5 44.96486N 75.67863W. TIME: 2002-2108. AIR TEMP: 10, overcast, calm. HABITAT: low-water creek@limestone flats blw old milldam, water 4. 5 C. OBSERVER: Frederick W. Schueler, Shane Staton, Tana Mc Daniel, Jim White, V.Kirkwood, Matt Scott, +. 2002/237/ca, Necturus maculosus (Mudpuppy). 12 adult, seen, dipnetted. Mudpuppy Night outing with searchlight. We saw 9 from the bridge, 5 on the east side, and 4 in the deep water just above the bridge (where the bottom is covered with a layer of dark organic matter which is doubtless the legacy of the lack of current this fall). None below the bridge. There were 3 at the ledge that bounds the deep water above the bridge - one of which we netted up for viewing by the crowd of distinguished visitors (including Melanie Boyd & family). The usual range of sizes - one large, and none very small.
There were again none above the shallow crossing, as if they didn't pass the shallow riffle to go up to the 30 cm water just below the dam. We scanned the bottom with the searchlight both above and below the bridge, and then walked around and waded all through the flats above the drop-off ledge. The water was 30 cm below the ledge of the 'Vantage Point, ' and at the shallow crossing halfway between the bridge and the dam, the water was just a shallow mossy trickle 7 cm deep at the deepest. The water was very clear, and 5. 5 C cooler than the air at 4. 5 C.
(same location) TIME: 2002-2108. 2002/237/cb, Rana pipiens (Leopard Frog) (herp). 5-6 juvenile, seen, dipnetted. SVL 40-55 mm, in moss above riffle, maybe more than this. These were mostly disturbed out of the moss in the shallows above the riffle, and the count of 5-6 is a minimum. Doubtless we could have gotten a lot more if we'd worked through the whole moss mat, which is especially dense this year.
(same location) TIME: 2002-2108. 2002/237/cc, Rana catesbeiana (Bull Frog) (herp). 10 ca juvenile, seen, dipnetted. SVL 50-65 mm, in moss above riffle & out on bedrock bottom. These were mostly disturbed out of the moss in the shallows above the riffle, and doubtless we could have gotten more if we'd worked through the whole moss mat, which is especially dense this year. Some of them seemed somewhat edematous.
(same location) TIME: 2002-2108. 2002/237/cd, Belostomatidae (Giant Water Bug) (entomological). 1 mature, seen. on bedrock bottom. There were relatively few Centrachidae - none of them large, and NO:Esox.
(same location) TIME: 2002-2108. 2002/237/ce, Orconectes virilis (Northern Crayfish) . 15 ca adult, seen. many active on bedrock bottom.
15 November 2002
Oxford Mills Dam, Kemptville Creek. UTM 18TVE 464.5 790.5 44.96486N 75.67863W. TIME: 2014-2106. AIR TEMP: -5.5, clear, Beaufort light air, full Moon. HABITAT: low-water creek@limestone flats blw old milldam, water turbid, 6 C. OBSERVER: Frederick W. Schueler, Aleta Karstad Schueler, Chrs't Graham, Matt Scott, Melanie Boyd & fam., W.v.Papineau. FWS 0211152014/a, Necturus maculosus (Mudpuppy). 7 adult, seen, dipnetted. Mudpuppy Night outing with searchlight. We saw 5 upstream from the bridge, 3 in deep water on the east side, 2 on the west side (the bottom is still covered with a layer of dark organic matter, and the water is murky turbid tonight as well), and 2 below the bridge on the W side, of which one was netted up, observed, and released at the Vantage Point (where it burrowed into the layer of organic 'loon shit' and was invisible - suggesting that there may have been others under this kind of cover in the deeper water). There were none at the ledge that bounds the deep water above the bridge. The usual range of sizes - none large, and none very small.
There were again none above the shallow crossing, as if they didn't pass the riffle to go up to the 30 cm water just below the dam. We scanned the bottom with the searchlight both above and below the bridge, and then walked around and waded all through the flats above the drop-off ledge. The water was 25 cm below the ledge of the 'Vantage Point, ' and at the shallow crossing halfway between the bridge and the dam, the water was just a shallow mossy trickle 7 cm deep. The water was turbid, and 11. 5 C warmer than the air at 6 C (in mid channel just below the spillway - skim of ice on shallows away from the current) - the freezing temperatures have come on only this afternoon.
(same location) TIME: 2014-2106. FWS 0211152014/b, Rana catesbeiana (Bull Frog) (herp). 2 adult, seen. 1 ca 50 cm juv, 1 ca 120 mm adult on bottom in deep(70 cm)water.
(same location) TIME: 2014-2106. FWS 0211152014/c, Belostomatidae (Giant Water Bug) (entomological). 2 mature, seen. on bottom in deep(70 cm)water.
(same location) TIME: 2014-2106. FWS 0211152014/d, Perca flavescens (Yellow Perch) (fish). 25 ca adult, seen. allca 12 cm TL, quiescent on bottom in deep(1 m)water. There was also a fair number of quiet Centrachids among these Perch - most larger than the Perch, and including one 25 cm Micropterus.
(same location) TIME: 2014-2106. FWS 0211152014/e, Corixidae (Water Boatman) (entomological). 100 s mature, seen. along shore in 30 cm water. There were also a lot of small Gyrinidae - the first time we've seen large numbers of aquatic Insects this fall.
22 November 2002
Oxford Mills Dam, Kemptville Creek. UTM 18TVE 464.5 790.5 44.96486N 75.67863W. TIME: 2002-2028. AIR TEMP: 0, snowing, windy. HABITAT: low-water creek@limestone flats blw old milldam, water turbid, 3. 5 C. OBSERVER: Frederick W. Schueler, Jennifer Helene Schueler, Corey Wood. 2002/244/aa, Necturus maculosus (Mudpuppy). 1 adult, seen. Mudpuppy Night outing with searchlight. The only one seen was above the shallow crossing, now 15 cm deep at the riffle, on the bedrock flats on the east side. Medium small, right out in the open in 25 cm water, as if it were nothing exceptional, but it was the only one. We scanned the bottom above the bridge with the searchlight both above and below the ledge, and waded all through the flats above the drop-off ledge. The water was 20 cm below the ledge of the 'Vantage Point.' The water was turbid, and 3. 5 C warmer than the air at 3. 5 C.
We looked off the bridge, but saw no Necturus, partly perhaps, because the water is still murky turbid so that the bottom was hard to see, and because the wind was raising ripples all across the creek (Force 4-5), and below the bridge it was especially hard to see the bottom for the ripples. But there were also none at the ledge that bounds the deep water above the bridge.
(same location) TIME: 2002-2028. 2002/244/ab, Rana pipiens (Leopard Frog) (herp). 1 adult, seen. ca 60 mm SVL, tucked into moss on bedrock flats blw spillway.
(same location) TIME: 2002-2028. 2002/244/ac, Rana clamitans (Green Frog) (herp). 1 juvenile, seen. ca 50 mm SVL, tucked into moss on bedrock flats blw spillway.
(same location) TIME: 2002-2028. 2002/244/ad, Rana catesbeiana (Bull Frog) (herp). 2 juvenile, seen. 1 ca 120 mm SVL in deep water, 1 ca 50 mm SVL, among grass near shore. The adult was quiet in deep water just above the bridge on the east side, while the juvenile was in the grassy shallows on the east side, right up at the surface of the water.
(same location) TIME: 2002-2028. 2002/244/ae, Corixidae (Water Boatman) (entomological). 1000 s mature, seen. all along shores, esp. steep rocky banks on E side. There were also some small Gyrinidae, but NO:Orconectes virilis.
(same location) TIME: 2002-2028. 2002/244/af, Perca flavescens (Yellow Perch) (fish). 3+ juvenile, seen. ca 15 cm TL, quiescent in deep water(1 m) above bridge, on E side. These were on the bottom, and there may well have been more, but it was only possible to see a few metres from the ledge into the turbid water. In addition to the suspended turbidity, this week and last week were the first when enough disturbed material on the bottom has clouded the water downstream from wherever one walks to seriously obscure visibility.
There were also 3 long narrow fish on the bottom elsewhere that may have been Percina caprodes. Except for the dead Smallmouth, fish weren't conspicuous, and had to be looked for.
(same location) TIME: 2002-2028. 2002/244/ag, Micropterus dolomieui (Smallmouth Bass) (fish). 1 adult, dead, seen. ca 25 cm TL, dead, not fresh, on E side flats, 25 cm depth. Head mangled - should have been collected - but no idea now how it died. There were a few living 10 cm Centrachids that may have been this species as well.
29 November 2002
Oxford Mills Dam, Kemptville Creek. UTM 18TVE 464.5 790.5 44.96486N 75.67863W. TIME: 2000-2040. AIR TEMP: 2, overcast, breezy. HABITAT: brown-water creek@limestone flats blw old milldam. OBSERVER: Aleta Karstad Schueler. AKS 0211292000/aa, Necturus maculosus (Mudpuppy). 3 adult, seen. Mudpuppy Night outing with searchlight, all seen were small. Two small (10 cm) individuals seen from the upstream-east side of the bridge, several meters apart. Both slowly moved into hiding when disturbed by the light.
The creek is faster, making a fair noise over the dam, lots of flakes of foam swept down midstream, a thin raft of foam against the ledge of the vantage point. Water flowing over the vantage point and dropping about 5 cm over its edge. From the bridge the water looks rather turbid.
When I began to wade, I saw a dead Rana, white belly-up, perhaps a medium-sized Leopard Frog, just off the dropoff. Nothing feeding on it. I noticed several fish, quiescent. Striprd individuals, perhaps young Perch are very still, but darker-backed fishes, perhaps dace, move sleepily. Two groups of 10 or 15 of these dark fish could be seen straight down from the bridge. I saw one very small (perhaps 8 cm) Mudpuppy near the dropoff - a little toward midstream. Just the base of its tail and a tiny leg, both of which slowly disappeared among the leaves and stones.
There were no more Mudpuppies to be seen, even though I walked about the midstream shallows. Saw a dead Crayfish on its back among stones to the west of the mossy-weed bed, and a dead 20 cm Micropterus (Black Bass) with its belly bitten open - nothing actively scavenging on it at this time. So there's lots of Mudpuppy food, and a comfortable 'room temperature' of 0 C, but perhaps little activity because of recent snow.
(same location) TIME: 2000-2040. AKS 0211292000/ab, Orconectes virilis (Northern Crayfish) . 1 adult, dead, seen. on its back among stones W of the mossy-weed bed. . . . and a dead 20 cm Micropterus (Black Bass) with its belly bitten open - nothing actively scavenging on it at this time.
6 December 2002
Oxford Mills Dam, Kemptville Creek. UTM 18TVE 464.5 790.5 44.96486N 75.67863W. TIME: 2001-2006. AIR TEMP: -5.5, clear, Beaufort light air. HABITAT: brown-water creek@frozen-over low-water pond above old milldam. OBSERVER: Frederick W. Schueler, Jennifer Helene Schueler. 2002/260/c, Lontra canadensis (River Otter) (Mammal). 1 adult, tracks, seen. 1 trackway, almost certainly this species, near spillway. . . . near the eastern spillway, only a couple of metres out over the ice. The pond is frozen over completely, with, except for this trackway, a thin virgin cover of snow.
(same location) TIME: 2006-2035. AIR TEMP: -5.5, clear, Beaufort light air. HABITAT: creek@limestone flats blw old milldam, half frozen-over, water fairly clear. OBSERVER: Frederick W. Schueler, Jennifer Helene Schueler, Scotts. 2002/260/da, Necturus maculosus (Mudpuppy). 13 adult, seen. Mudpuppy Night outing with searchlight, bimodally large & small. Tonight the Vantage Point was encased in ice from recent -20 C cold, though the rock of the ledge is doubtless above the water level (we forgot to bring an axe). There's ice all across the stream above the bridge (up a bit above the drop-off ledge to deep water), and below the bridge on the east side. No Necturus seen from the bridge on the west downstream side where the bottom was visible - the water was fairly clear.
We waded the flats on the west side, seeing 3 large and 4 small Necturus, and then kicked thin ice off the mid-east side above the deep water. This ice was light flakes 10-cm, inside like filo pastry easily kicked aside (including 1 2 x 3 m chunk). Here we saw 3 Necturus we'd seen before, and 3 more, medium large, embedded in the moss.
Then we went up the east side and saw 3 more small ones on the east-side flats. The ice shelves are hard, solid, and firm with clear margins. We could have seen more if we'd had an axe to remove some of the shelves.
After Scotts arrived we watched one Mudpuppy on the east side flats for a while.
(same location) TIME: 2006-2035. 2002/260/db, Rana pipiens (Leopard Frog) (herp). 1 adult, seen. ca 60 mm SVL green adult, embedded in Moss in midstream. Other potential mudpuppy prey noted included 1 10 cm Notropis-like fish, and a small clump of gut-like viscera on the bottom.
13 December 2002
Oxford Mills Dam, Kemptville Creek. UTM 18TVE 464.5 790.5 44.96486N 75.67863W. TIME: 2000-2113. AIR TEMP: 0, overcast, calm. HABITAT: creek@limestone flats blw old milldam, half frozen-over, water 0 C, fairly clear. OBSERVER: Frederick W., Aleta Karstad, & Jennifer H. Schueler, Wes von Papineau, +. 2002/263/aa, Necturus maculosus (Mudpuppy). 27 adult, seen. Mudpuppy Night outing with searchlight & axe. Tonight there was still ice all across the stream above the bridge, with an open area on the extreme E side, where we saw 1 large Necturus. Above this ice was continuous across the stream, and foam had accumulated 50 cm deep above the ice. On the downstream side the bottom was clearly visible, but we saw no Mudpuppies - the water was quite clear.
The rock of the Vantage Point had melted out of the ice, but there was still an ice shelf there, until JHS, by body mass and axe, broke it off. We saw about 8 15-20 cm Necturus around the Vantage Point - though it was hard to keep count with all the disturbance of removing the ice. The VP was about 15 cm above the water level. We axed away ice shelves on an eddy over the west side flats, including a huge 6 x 10 m slab of ice, and turned out about 6 more medium-small Necturus there. I waded across to the east side, and saw only 1 Necturus on the lower part of the moss-patch (which wasn't the centre of the eddy as in previous years, but had a straight current through it), and 9 large and small ones in the upper parts of the patch - but then none in the shallow water east of there, until 1 large & 1 small in a concentration of Corixidae at the E end of the spillway ledge when I removed some ice there.
Much of the thin ice, especially on the east side, was made of round pans about 20-40 cm diameter, welded together by a matrix 3-6 cm thick, and, despite the water temperature of 0 C, it was generally rotting and soft. I cleared 2 sq m of ice from the edge of the window over the deep water (see above), but there were no Necturus to be seen.
(same location) TIME: 2000-2113. 2002/263/ab, Rana pipiens (Leopard Frog) (herp). 1 adult, seen. large brown ad in central moss-patch, 25 cm depth.
(same location) TIME: 2000-2113. 2002/263/ac, Perca flavescens (Yellow Perch) (fish). 2 adult, seen. 10 cm & 20 cm ads quiet on bottom, 30 & 70 cm depth. These were on the east side, in the open water over the deep water above the bridge. Other than these, we saw only one unidentifed fish, and one cf Notropis, both about 10 cm TL. NO:Orconectes virilis to be seen alive, though there was one long-dead cheliped on the bottom.
(same location) TIME: 2000-2113. 2002/263/ad, Nepa (Waterscorpion) (entomological). 1 mature, captured. crawling on snow on ledge just below, & W of dam. This was at the Vantage Point ledge, where the great numbers of Corixids were also concentrated.
(same location) TIME: 2000-2113. 2002/263/ae, Belostomatidae (Giant Water Bug) (entomological). 3 mature, seen, active. swimming actively in flow blw ledge just below, & E of dam. These were strikingly more active than the others we've seen this fall - as if some sort of low-temperature-activity switch has gone off in their physiology, like Leopard Frogs that seem to become more active at 0 C at the beginning of hibernation.
(same location) TIME: 2000-2113. 2002/263/af, Corixidae (Water Boatman) (entomological). 15000 ca mature, seen. uncovered by ice removal, mostly just blw ledge blw dam. It's only in the past spring (2002) and this fall that we've seen many of these here, but they're certainly abundant now. The greatest numbers were in the eddy right below the ledge at the Vantage Point (ca 10000), but there were more below there on the west side, and then smaller numbers (ca 5000) more dispersed on the E side. All the concentrated groups were under ice near shore. One Necturus walked through a cloud of them on the west side, and two walked through a cloud of them on the east side, but none seemed to be feeding.
The sample was taken by a simple scoop of a bucket on the W side.
You'd think that after a few winters of going down to the creek every week in order to see Mudpuppies, we'd have run out of totally new things to report. But in our fifth year we evidently haven't yet reached the state of just gathering data, rather than observing new phenomena, and tonight it's unprecedented numbers of aquatic Hemiptera. These were mostly under ice and exposed as we removed the ice, and they were concentrated below the little (20-40 cm) ledge that runs all the way across the creek just below the spillway, as if they'd been thwarted there in their attempts to get further upstream.
Mudpuppies are they known to eat Insects, so it will be interesting to see if the numbers of Bugs decline through the winter - I don't suppose a Mudpuppy would eat a Bug in the glare of our lights, or that we could correctly interpret the movement if it did.
20 December 2002
Oxford Mills Dam, Kemptville Creek. UTM 18TVE 464.5 790.5 44.96486N 75.67863W. TIME: 1955-2044. AIR TEMP: 1.5, light overcast, breezy. HABITAT: creek@limestone flats blw old milldam, thin ice cover, water 0 C, fairly clear. OBSERVER: Frederick W. Schueler, Aleta Karstad Schueler. 2002/265/aa, Necturus maculosus (Mudpuppy). 24 adult, seen. Mudpuppy Night outing with searchlight, full Moon. If anyone had come, Mudpuppy Night would have been a real spectacle tonight. The water level was still low, the ice was thin enough that I could break great slabs off by wandering across it, and there were Mudpuppies everywhere, in shallow clear water - mostly mid-size to big ones. AIR TEMP was cloudy and 2 C at beginning of visit.
Ice cover is complete above the dam, with most of the surface grey and refrozen from melting. Below the dam there was a thin bridge all across the stream blocking a mass of foam below the spillways, then open areas over most of the flat shallows, and then more ice over the deep water above the bridge. Below the bridge about two thirds of the width of the stream is ice free, or with ice so clear the bottom could be scanned through it. So we couldn't look into any deep water, and the water on the flats was shallow and accessible, or the ice easily broken away. The water seemed clear, but that may have only been because the deeper areas were covered with ice.
No Mudpuppies seen from the bridge, but:
Vantage Point ledge (W side below the dam, ledge 15 cm above water level): 6 or 7 seen walking fairly rapidly about - also one moribund 6 cm Rana tadpole, that was doubtless doomed to soon be consumed by a Mudpuppy
West side flats (downstream of ice) 3 seen.
West side flats (under 5 x 6 m slab of thin ice cracked off: 4 seen.
East side flats (downstream of ice) 4 seen.
midstream: 1 seen.
West side flats (under 8 x 10 m slab of thin ice cracked off: 4 seen.
east side below spillway ledge: 2 or 3 seen.
total: 24.
The entrancing thing about seeing these was that when I first looked at an area of the bottom I'd see none or only one, and then I'd notice more and more, walking fairly actively about, and moving from one grouping to another. It was hard to keep the counts straight because they were moving so rapidly - perhaps if we'd had more observers we could have counted more.
Aleta saw one small Perch on the east side below spillway ledge, which was the only fish, and some mysterious fungus-like blobs on the bottom proved to be chunks of Pumpkin. NO:Hemiptera seen, in striking contrast to last week.
(same location) TIME: 1955-2044. OBSERVER: AKS/FWS. 2002/265/ab, Perca flavescens (Yellow Perch) (fish). 1 adult, seen, active. small, active, on E side below spillway ledge, only fish seen.
(same location) TIME: 1955-2044. 2002/265/ac, Rana cf clamitans (Green Frog) (fish). 1 larva, seen. ca 6 cm TL, rolling belly-up, in 40 cm water near Vantage Point. . . . among several Necturus.
27 December 2002
Oxford Mills Dam, Kemptville Creek. UTM 18TVE 464.5 790.5 44.96486N 75.67863W. TIME: 2000-2045. AIR TEMP: -1.5, overcast, calm. HABITAT: creek@limestone flats blw old milldam, thin ice cover, water 0 C, fairly clear. OBSERVER: Aleta Karstad Schueler, Lorraine Leader. AKS 0212272000/a, Necturus maculosus (Mudpuppy). 12 adult, seen. Mudpuppy Night outing with searchlight. There's a thin layer of water flowing over the Vantage Point, and the creek is mostly covered with thin frothy ice with some patches of clear ice and a few open places. None seen from the bridge - but only a few small metre-scale openings on either side of the bridge. Three just below the Vantage Point ledge on the west side, three out in the strong flow in the middle, walking on the mossy rocks, and six near the east side in the shallows.
One dead 10 cm bitten-into Minnow the only other Animal noted.
3 January 2003
Oxford Mills Dam, Kemptville Creek. UTM 18TVE 464.5 790.5 44.96486N 75.67863W. TIME: 2001-2035. AIR TEMP: -4, snowing, breezy. HABITAT: creek@limestone flats blw old milldam, thin ice cover, water 0 C, fairly clear. OBSERVER: Frederick W. Schueler, Aleta Karstad Schueler, Dave Seburn, Wes von Papineau. 2003/001/b, Necturus maculosus (Mudpuppy). 10 adult, seen. Mudpuppy Night outing with searchlight. One large Necturus was visible below the bridge, but crawled under a rock when lit up. Below the bridge most of the width of the creek was clear, but above there was only one metre-scale opening. Another large Mudpuppy was seen by peering under the ice in the deep water above the bridge. Two small ones were seen from the Vantage Point, and 5 more (all small) in the shallows from west to east across the stream, with a 15 cm individual near shore in 5 cm of water on the downstream W side. That was it. No other animals seen.
The water level is low again - 15 cm below the Vantage Point ledge - and the creek is mostly covered with thin ice compounded of fluffy 20-50 cm diameter round pans and more-or-less consolidated floating slush. A moderate pile of foam against the ice bridge just below the spillways. We used the axe, but none of the ice was thick enough to require it: I just walked through it and broke it as free as it was going to become (much of it was slushily aground on shallows). We might have seen more Mudpuppies if I'd searched the lower area of open water before kicking the slush-sheet of ice free from the upper area of flats, so that it went down and covered many square metres of the flats that had been clear before.
We used the axe, but none of the ice was thick enough to require it: I just walked through it and broke it as free as it was going to become (much of it was slushily aground on shallows). We might have seen more Mudpuppies if I'd searched the lower area of open water before kicking the slush-sheet of ice free from the upper area of flats, so that it went down and covered many square metres that had been clear before.
Mats of the bright green algae identified as Batrachospermum keratophytum by Paul Hamilton are just beginning to develop among the moss on the east side.
10 January 2003
Oxford Mills Dam, Kemptville Creek. UTM 18TVE 464.5 790.5 44.96486N 75.67863W. TIME: 2000-2045. AIR TEMP: -13, overcast, calm, snowing. HABITAT: brown-water creek@limestone flats blw old milldam, ice cover, water 0 C, fairly clear. OBSERVER: Frederick W., Aleta Karstad, & Jennifer H. Schueler, Anne Robertson, Kingston Teen Naturalists, +. 2003/004/aa, Necturus maculosus (Mudpuppy). 36 adult, seen, dipnetted. Mudpuppy Night outing with searchlight. Above and below the bridge the the creek was frozen over, mostly with flat new snow-covered ice. The deep water above the bridge was completely covered.
From the Vantage Point, after we'd cleared away about 1. 5 sq metres of ice, in two lobes over an eddy, we saw 6 Necturus - there were none out in the main current near the ledge, which was about 25 cm above water level. Flow over all three spillways was about equal, and steam was rising from the water, and there was about 30 cm deep frozen foam above the ice bridge below the spillways, with 30-50 cm hexagonal pans of fluffy ice forming from the foam - the first time I can recall seeing a honey-comb like pattern to these pans - forming so much in situ that they're not rotating enough to rub their corners off.
There was an open area of about 10 x 13 m over the flats, where the water was very shallow (in places only 10 cm, and everywheres within gumboot depth), and we saw at least 8 Necturus there, dispersed widely, and often in very shallow water. We then cleared away about an equal area of 2-5 cm ice above this, freeing the foam and pans to wash downstream, and exposing about 15 more Mudpuppies. There were 7 caulked in below the ledge below the spillway on the east side. There was a full range of sizes from slender little 15 cm juveniles to big 30+ cm heavy-bodied lunkers. Several were dipnetted or scooped up, and examined in the bucket.
Most of the ice removal was done by walking over it until chunks broke off - in places there was 20 cm of snow on the thin ice, so the floes floated a lot higher in the shallow water than real ice would have.
The Kingston Teen Naturalists were represented by: Heidi Bunnie, Jan Rossiter, Timmi Sibbald and Jeremy Zoutman.
(same location) TIME: 2000-2045. 2003/004/ab, Esox (Esox sp.) (fish). 1 adult, seen. 50 cm ad in 20 cm water on east-side flats. Relatively quiet - turned and went down into deep water when illuminated.
(same location) TIME: 2000-2045. 2003/004/ac, Rana catesbeiana (Bull Frog) (herp). 1 adult, male, seen, captured. ca 120 mm SVL M in 20 cm water, midstream, head-down in moss.
(same location) TIME: 2000-2045. 2003/004/ad, Rana (True Frog) (herp). 5 ca larva, seen. ca 70 mm TL tadpoles in midstream, swimming fairly well. These may have been either (or both) Rana clamitans (Green Frog) or Rana catesbeiana. NO:Orconectes, NO:Hemiptera seen.
11 January 2003
Oxford Mills Dam, Kemptville Creek. UTM 18TVE 464.5 790.5 44.96486N 75.67863W. TIME: 2104-2125. AIR TEMP: -11, overcast, calm. HABITAT: brown-water creek@limestone flats blw old milldam, ice cover, water 0 C, fairly clear. OBSERVER: Frederick W. Schueler, Aleta Karstad Schueler. 2003/005/aa, Necturus maculosus (Mudpuppy). 6 adult, seen, photo. Mudpuppy Night photo opportunity with searchlight. Above and below the bridge the the creek was frozen over, and the deep water above the bridge was almost completely covered.
The Vantage Point was about 25 cm above water level, and barricaded with foam and new ice, which made it hard to see the bottom. Two Necturus were visible under the frozen foam nearby, but we didn't clear much ice, since our main mission was photographic.
There was a 5 x 5 m area clear over the shallowest part of the flats (10-15 cm depth), and 1-3 cm over most of the rest of the area we'd cleared last night. We broke a lot of this ice away, and exposed 4 more Necturus, but there are definitely fewer than last night - though we we hustled away and didn't check under the east side spillway ledge. Aleta photographed 3 of these beside a 20 cm reference bar.
(same location) TIME: 2104-2125. 2003/005/ab, Rana (True Frog) (herp). 10 ca larva, seen, photo. in shallows, esp. where no ice cover, some swimming feebly. . . . others lying on their sides on the bottom. These may have been either (or both) Rana clamitans (Green Frog) or Rana catesbeiana. NO:Orconectes, NO:Hemiptera seen.
(same location) TIME: 2104-2125. 2003/005/ac, Rana catesbeiana (Bull Frog) (herp). 2 juvenile, seen, photo. in shallows, SVLca 60 mm, head-down in moss.
(same location) TIME: 2104-2125. 2003/005/ad, Rana pipiens (Leopard Frog) (herp). 1 juvenile, seen, photo. in shallows, SVLca 55 mm, head-down in moss, green.
17 January 2003
![[Mudpuppy Night - 17 January 2003]](mosaic1.jpg)
Oxford Mills Dam, Kemptville Creek. UTM 18TVE 464.5 790.5 44.96486N 75.67863W. TIME: 2002-2100. AIR TEMP: -29, clear, calm. HABITAT: ice covered low-water creek@limestone flats blw old milldam, water 0 C, clear. OBSERVER: Frederick W. Schueler, Aleta Karstad Schueler, Matthew Scott. 2003/006/a, visit () (E). survey, wade, light. Mudpuppy Night outing with searchlight, full Moon. This is unprecedentedly low water for this season and temperature - the coldest we've ever been out for a Mudpuppy Night.
There was about 20-25 cm of snow on the ground. Above and below the bridge the creek was frozen over, with new ice since our 11 Jan outing, the deep water above the bridge was completely covered, and the spillways were sheathed with ice. Aleta got photos of 5 or 6 Necturus. Matt helped with holding the 20 cm measuring stick down beside each of them. We only did the west half of the creek because the ice was harder to remove from the shallower water on the east side.
The only open water was a narrow turbulent strip below the spillways, and a 5 x 4 m area over the shallowest part of the flats (10-15 cm depth). We enjoyed bending and breaking the ice upstream of the open area by standing on it, in midstream and on the west side, all the way to the spillway. Some broke in metre-scale chunks, others fragmented, and some bore down to the bottom - crushing one Rana (True Frog) tadpole - an accident we've often feared, but have never had before. The ice was 2-5 cm thick - thinnest under deep snow. All the broken floes were carried downstream, and covered the entire stream below us in a jumble - by the time we were done, the 5 x 4 m clear area had migrated upstream to join the open strip below the dam. Matt had fun floe-hopping, just like a Newfoundland kid on a Bay.
There's no significant growth of the bright green alga, Batrachospermum keratophytum, this year, and the moss Fontinalis hypnoides, is a short turf on the bedrock in midstream - which seems to have been growing, or at least becoming a more regular turf, through the winter.
The Vantage Point was well above water level, though too sheathed in ice & snow to measure the height. There was a 25 cm belt of frozen foam below the spillway, and some loosely floating pans embedded in it. All exposed water steamed constantly. NO:Orconectes, NO:Hemiptera seen.
Afterwards we retired to the Brigadoon, thawing our boots and beard and glasses. Matt had ice all over his little waders, and he and Fred got water in thier boots as the ice broke under them at the foot of the dam.
(same location) TIME: 2002-2100. 2003/006/aa, Necturus maculosus (Mudpuppy). 33 adult, seen, photo. Mudpuppy Night outing with searchlight, full Moon. The only open water was a narrow turbulent strip below the spillways, and a 5 x 4 m area over the shallowest part of the flats (10-15 cm depth). In the centre of this area there was 1 big ca 30 cm adult Necturus in such shallow water that it raised a surface wave, and was visible in the ambient street & Moon lighting. After failing to photograph this, we broke a lot of the upstream ice away, exposing about 15 more Necturus. It was hard to keep an accurate count, since they tended to move upstream, or swim downstream, and the excitement of ice giving way underfoot tended to drive numbers out of one's mind.
We broke this ice out of the way with our weight, and the disturbance and vibrations of this may have driven some of the Mudpuppies upstream ahead of us. The Vantage Point was well above water level, though too sheathed in ice & snow to measure the height. Two Necturus were curled under isolated stones near the ledge as we broke away the thin snow-covered ice below the Vantage Point, and we saw a total of 6 from the Point, though none had been visible when we arrived and before we cleared the ice away.
Aleta photographed 5-6 of these beside a 20 cm reference bar. They seemed to be swimming unusually freely and vigourously, which made them hard to photograph. There were more large individuals than small, and none less than 20 cm long.
As we left, Matt and I walked across the creek below the spillways, and saw about 11 more Necturus crowded (but not caulked - note the technical terminology here) in below the ledge. There might have been more on the extreme E side, but I broke through the ice below the ledge and disrupted and disturbed the viewing.
(same location) TIME: 2002-2100. 2003/006/ab, Rana catesbeiana (Bull Frog) (herp). 10 ca juvenile, seen, photo. ca 50 mm SVL, in moss or bedrock cracks, though 1 swam vigourously. These were all of one size, and seemed edematously pillow-shaped, though of course no juvenile Bull Frog is ever slim. They were distributed fairly evenly over the bottom in the mid-stream area we cleared.
A number of explanations are possible for the unusually large number of frogs we're seeing this winter: 1) maybe with a dry fall they didn't come out on land to circumvent the dam, and so these that are stuck below the dam would otherwise have hopped around it (this doesn't, of course, explain the large number of tadpoles we're seeing); 2) Maybe the frogs can get up into the area where we watch them because the current is less, and they're not swept downstream; 3) maybe we're just better able to see them this winter, since the low flow makes them easier to view; or 4) all or some of the above.
(same location) TIME: 2002-2100. 2003/006/ac, Rana pipiens (Leopard Frog) (herp). 10 ca adult, juvenile, seen, photo. in moss/bedrock cracks, 1 swimming vigourously blw spillway. Both adults (after-hatching-year in avian terminology), and juveniles distributed across the strem bottom, especially in mid-stream and below the spillway. In the main flow of the spillway over the ledge, one was swimming very actively (though certainly not with an aestival degree of co-ordination), as if trying to get over the ledge.
(same location) TIME: 2002-2100. 2003/006/ad, Rana (True Frog) (herp). 20 ca larva, seen, photo. ca 60 mm TL, in moss/bedrock cracks, some swimming actively. As previously, these may have been either (or both) Rana clamitans (Green Frog) or Rana catesbeiana.
(same location) TIME: 2210. AIR TEMP: -29, clear, calm. HABITAT: marshy snow-covered millpond just above dam. 2003/006/b, visit () (E). adult, seen. NO:Mammalia tracks above dam in searchlight & full Moon. There's new snow on the ice, but no open water above the spillways. The only sign of activity on the ice is some snowed-over skating areas.
24 January 2003
Oxford Mills Dam, Kemptville Creek. UTM 18TVE 464.5 790.5 44.96486N 75.67863W. TIME: 2010-2025. AIR TEMP: -24, clear, calm. HABITAT: ice covered low-water creek@limestone flats blw old milldam, water 0 C, clear. OBSERVER: Frederick W. Schueler, Aleta Karstad Schueler. 2003/010/a, visit () (E). survey, wade. Mudpuppy Night outing with searchlight. Creek very completely frozen over, only a 4 m equilateral triangle below the west spillway, and a 5 x 1 m area over the shallowest flats open. The ice supports my weight right across the creek on the new ice above the flats (though I didn't try the jumbled floes below the spillway that we broke last week), and it's glinting with big hoar-frost crystals. Below the spillway there's a nearly-metre-high mound of white frozen foam, water steaming, clear as far as it can be judged.
NO:Necturus seen, but no ice removed, and the water below the spillway was too fast and turbulent to see them. Anticipating a big crowd from Toronto tomorrow, we didn't break any ice, and went in to talk with a famished Wes von Papineau in the Brigadoon.
25 January 2003
Oxford Mills Dam, Kemptville Creek. UTM 18TVE 464.5 790.5 44.96486N 75.67863W. TIME: 2007-2055. AIR TEMP: -6.5, Beaufort gentle breeze, snowing. HABITAT: ice covered low-water creek@limestone flats blw old milldam, water 0 C, clear. OBSERVER: Frederick W. Schueler, Aleta Karstad Schueler, Wes von Papineau. 2003/011/aa, Necturus maculosus (Mudpuppy). 36 ca adult, seen, photo, specimen. Mudpuppy Night outing with searchlight. The water level hasn't changed, but the contrast with last night's conditions couldn't be more striking: the creek's still very completely frozen over, but the open water below the spillway extends most of the way across tha dam, and the 5 x 2 m open area over the shallowest flats is expanding as the upstream ice rots away in wet perforations. Many areas no longer support my weight as they did last night (though temperatures haven't been above freezing - it's just the water movement at high subfreezing temperatures that has this effect - which encourages us to think that each week's ice conditions are an equilibrium state rather than a result of previous disturbance).
The big crowd from Toronto couldn't come, but Wes and I set out to clear much of the ice they could have removed, starting below the spillway, and then moving to the surroundings of the open area on the flats (but we could have cleared more ice - and doubtless would have seen more Mudpuppies).
No Necturus were initially visible from the Vantage Point area, but when 2 sq m of 3 cm ice was cleared away we saw about 6 around rocks and under the spillway ledge. One was collected since it had been wounded either by our ice clearing or previously.
Further east we saw another 6 or so under the spillway ledge, and then 5 more over to the angle in the ledge on the east side - this is about as far west as we're usually able to see them, but now it's as far east as we're able to easily clear ice - shoving the jumbled floes, froth, and snow under the water undtil the space is jammed up (despite this disturbance there were very similar numbers of Necturus here as we left - many of the caulked into the angle of the ledge and the bottom).
In the open area in the flats there were 4-5 initially visible, and then a further 15 or so as we cleared about 3 x 4 m, or a bit more more, of the rotting ice upstream of there. Considering that we only cleared a fraction of the area we could have, this may represent the same peak in numbers we've seen in each of the past two winters in late January or early February.
Aleta photographed some beside a 20 cm reference bar, until her batteries failed. There was full range of sizes, with a considerable number of 30 cm 'big ones.' Many seemed to have their gills deployed more fluffily than last week, as if the the complete ice cover is reducing the oxygen coming over the dam: as in 2001 ice cover has been unusually complete and water levels unfluctuating - though this year at a very low level, compared with that after the rainy summer of 2000.
(same location) TIME: 2007-2055. 2003/011/ab, Rana catesbeiana (Bull Frog) (herp). 2 juvenile, seen. ca 50 & 60 mm SVL, in moss und ice in shallow flats, edematous. These were so edematous that the dorsal skin formed a fold behind the head - and they were indvertantly referred to as Xenopus and 'Toads' while we were handling them.
(same location) TIME: 2007-2055. 2003/011/ac, Rana (True Frog) (herp). 1 larva, seen. ca 60 mm TL, und ice in shallow flats, edematous. Many fewer than we've seen in the past few weeks - have they served as Necturus food, or are they elsewhere under the ice we didn't clear? No fish, NO:Orconectes, and NO:Hemiptera seen.
Back to Mudpuppy Night