pre-1998 nocturnal Mudpuppy observations at Oxford Mills

Field notes of Frederick W. Schueler: pre-1998 nocturnal Mudpuppy observations in Kemptville Creek at Oxford Mills, North Grenville Township (Oxford-on-Rideau geographic township), United Counties of Leeds and Grenville, Ontario, Canada

This is raw output from the EoBase database; UTM grids NAD27 Canada in military grid notation, lat/long WGS84 (=NAD83).

11 December 1984

Kemptville Creek. UTM 18TVE 465 791 44.96532N 75.67800W. OBSERVER: Frederick W. Schueler. NMC 27051, FWS 14690-14692, Necturus maculosus (Mudpuppy). specimen. 3 NMC 27051, FWS 14690-2, dam/bridge, Oxford Mills.

18 December 1984

Oxford Mills Dam, Kemptville Creek. UTM 18TVE 464.5 790.5 44.96486N 75.67863W. HABITAT: limestone bedrock, yellow water creek below milldam. OBSERVER: Frederick W. Schueler. Orconectes virilis (Northern Crayfish) . 1 adult, water colour. painting used in Wild Seasons Daybook.

6 December 1991

Oxford Mills, Kemptville Crk. UTM 18TVE 464.5 790.5 44.96486N 75.67863W. TIME: 1910-1945. AIR TEMP: -18. HABITAT: bedrock crk below milldam, ELEV 95 m, water. 5 C, 0-6 cm ice. OBSERVER: Frederick W. Schueler, Aleta Karstad Schueler, PScott. rangerlog/a, Rana pipiens (Leopard Frog) (herp). 1 adult, active, seen. 1 moving slowly on bottom.

(same location) TIME: 1910-1945. rangerlog/b, Necturus maculosus (Mudpuppy). 6-8 adult, active, seen. 6-8 moving & swimming 'usual vantage point'. Air -18 C, water 0. 5 C. After the cerimonial lighting of the Christmas tree here we went down to look for Necturus in 40-60 cm of rapidly flowing water over limestone bedrock. Lots of mist was rising from the water. I cleared 1-6 cm of ice from 3 sq m, and searched for amphibians by headlamp.

Necturus maculosus: 6-8 adults on bottom, moving and swimming actively. Their size ranged from small to large adults.

9 December 1991

Oxford Mills, Kemptville Crk. UTM 18TVE 464.5 790.5 44.96486N 75.67863W. TIME: 1934-2000. AIR TEMP: -3 ca. HABITAT: creek below milldam, ELEV 95 m, H 2 O-. 3 C, little ice. OBSERVER: Frederick W. Schueler, Scotts. 91/044/a, Rana pipiens (Leopard Frog) (herp). 1 adult, dead, seen, fd. 1 dead in stream, perhaps same seen 6 Dec.

(same location) TIME: 1934-2000. HABITAT: creek below milldam, ELEV 95 m, water. 3 C, little ice. NMCbaklog 97, 91/044/b, Necturus maculosus (Mudpuppy). 6+3-4 adult, active, specimen, seen. 6 preserved, +3-4 seen, sev in cracks of bedrock.

13 December 1991

Oxford Mills, Kemptville Crk. UTM 18TVE 464.5 790.5 44.96486N 75.67863W. TIME: 1950-2005. AIR TEMP: 0. HABITAT: creek below milldam, ELEV 95 m, H 2 O 1 C, little ice. OBSERVER: Frederick W. Schueler. 91/045/a, Necturus maculosus (Mudpuppy). 3 adult, active, seen. 3 seen in current near ledges, 'usual vantage point'.

19 December 1991

Oxford Mills, Kemptville Crk. UTM 18TVE 464.5 790.5 44.96486N 75.67863W. TIME: 2137-2159. AIR TEMP: -9. HABITAT: bedrock creek below milldam, ELEV 95 m, water 0 C. OBSERVER: Frederick W. Schueler. rangerlog/a, Necturus maculosus (Mudpuppy). 2 adult, active, seen. 2 in falls, 'usual vantage point', med. size ads. Both were first seen swimming right up in the water at the brink of the water below the dam, and went into calmer water below the scarp. Both were medium-size adults

24 December 1991

Oxford Mills, Kemptville Crk. UTM 18TVE 464.5 790.5 44.96486N 75.67863W. TIME: 2226-2243. AIR TEMP: -15. HABITAT: bedrock crk below milldam, ELEV 95 m, water slushy with ice. OBSERVER: Frederick W. Schueler. rangerlog/a, Necturus maculosus (Mudpuppy). 5 adult, active, seen. 4 seen from'usual vantage point', 1 in main flow. 1 seen following another. Clouding over after having been clear

26 December 1991

Oxford Mills, Kemptville Crk. UTM 18TVE 464.5 790.5 44.96486N 75.67863W. TIME: 2054-2135. AIR TEMP: 0. HABITAT: bedrock crk below milldam, ELEV 95 m, water 0. 3 C. OBSERVER: Frederick W. Schueler, Aleta Karstad Schueler, Rose Marie van der Ham. rangerlog/a, Necturus maculosus (Mudpuppy). 30-50 adult, active, seen. 4-5 seen from 'usual vantage point', 30-50 total. We came down here to look for active Necturus. Air 0 C, water 0. 3 C. Much of the pool was frozen over with a uniform sheet of ice, and there was a big drift of frozen foam and frosty sheets of ice at the downstream end of the open water. The ice sheet was rotting a bit, and there were smaller and fewer little pans of ice in the eddies.

There were 4-5 Necturus visible at most times from the 'usual' vantage point on the rock ledge on the S side of the dam, but larger numbers were sometimes visible from there, about 20 total at the most, though most of these were barely distinuishable from ripples on the bottom. I cut away a lot of ice from the shallower parts of the bedrock area. There were Necturus all over the bedrock bottom, even where there was only 20 cm of water under the 20 cm of ice. Jennie reached down into the water and picked up one Necturus that was squeezed down in a shallow crack on the bottom. At the ledge where the water runs in there were 3-4 squeezed into vertical and horizontal cracks in the rock like caulking. A lot of them were in this kind of position, with a fringe of algae rippling over their sides in the shallows, but also many in the deeper water were squeezed down. Others were active, and these tended to be moving slowly upstream or to be following each other. It was hard to see any pattern in the following because viewing of any individual was intermittant.

We saw about 30-50, and guessed that this was about half of those in the pool. After writng the above I went down to the N side of the creek and cleared ice away and waded into the water (to ca 30 cm depth), and saw more Necturus, all of them isolated indivduals. Over all the pool is about 20 x 20 m, and there was 1 Necturus/3-4 square m, so 100-130 individuals total. Snow beginning as we drove home.

27 December 1991

Oxford Mills, Kemptville Crk. UTM 18TVE 464.5 790.5 44.96486N 75.67863W. TIME: 2124-2208. AIR TEMP: -10. HABITAT: bedrock crk below milldam, ELEV 95 m, water 0 C. OBSERVER: Frederick W. Schueler. rangerlog/a, Necturus maculosus (Mudpuppy). 36/>36 adult, active, seen. 36 counted, 6-7 from 'usual vantage point'. I came down here to look for active Necturus. Air -10 C, water 0 C. There were 6-7 Necturus visible at most times from the 'usual' vantage point on the rock ledge on the S side of the dam. I counted 27, 33, 36 Necturus in three walks along the side of the pool. These are plausibly 1/3 of the total in the pond, and everything was much like last night except that the visibility was a little better. Most were moving slowly upstream or slowly following each other. There may have been more really big ones, but there were also many small ones. New ice fringing the edges where I had cut it away yesterday, and more ice pans in the eddies.

The Necturus are definately disturbed by the feeble light of our headlamps, and move away from the light after a while, even though the entire pool is brightly lit by the floodlight which shines from the bridge to the dam.

31 December 1991

Oxford Mills, Kemptville Crk. UTM 18TVE 464.5 790.5 44.96486N 75.67863W. TIME: 1947-2002. AIR TEMP: -15. HABITAT: creek below milldam, ELEV 95 m, H 2 O 1 C, much ice. OBSERVER: Frederick W. Schueler. 91/046/g, Necturus maculosus (Mudpuppy). 8 adult, active, seen. 4 seen from'usual vantage point', 4 others.

2 February 1992

Oxford Mills Dam, Kemptville Creek. UTM 18TVE 464.5 790.5 44.96486N 75.67863W. TIME: 2100. AIR TEMP: -12 ca. HABITAT: flat limestone creekbottom below dam. OBSERVER: Frederick W. Schueler. rangerlog, Necturus maculosus (Mudpuppy). 3 adult, seen, active. only 2. 5 sq m water exposed, water steaming.

21 October 1992

Oxford Mills Dam, Kemptville Creek. UTM 18TVE 464.5 790.5 44.96486N 75.67863W. TIME: 2200-2212. AIR TEMP: 1. HABITAT: limest. bedrock, yell. wat. creek below milldam, EL 95 m. OBSERVER: Frederick W. Schueler. rangerlog, Necturus maculosus (Mudpuppy). 1 adult, seen, active. only one seen active on bottom, water level high, 7 C. There was lots of frost on the ground here, and the municipal floodlights were on the dam and the stream below it, though I saw no Necturus in their light. The 1 that I saw was on the bottom near last year's lookout spot near the dam, but could not be seen from the lookout.

13 November 1992

Oxford Mills Dam, Kemptville Creek. UTM 18TVE 464.5 790.5 44.96486N 75.67863W. TIME: 2410-2416. AIR TEMP: 0 ca, clear. HABITAT: limest. bedrock, yell. wat. creek below milldam, EL 95 m. OBSERVER: Frederick W. Schueler. rangerlog, visit () (E). nat.hist., walk. very high water, NO:Necturus seen, clear, full moon. Spotlights on. Terrific flow of water. The usual vantage point was flooded 25 cm deep in water, and the water was turbulent with waves. There may well have been Necturus present, but I didn't see any.

16 November 1992

Oxford Mills Dam, Kemptville Creek. UTM 18TVE 464.5 790.5 44.96486N 75.67863W. TIME: 1226. AIR TEMP: 0 ca, cloudy. HABITAT: limest. bedrock, yell. wat. creek below milldam, EL 95 m. OBSERVER: Frederick W. Schueler. rangerlog, visit () (E). nat.hist., drive. just drove by, water lower than at last visit. The usual vantage point was awash with only a few cm of water

6 February 1993

Oxford Mills Dam, Kemptville Creek. UTM 18TVE 464.5 790.5 44.96486N 75.67863W. TIME: 2115-2140. AIR TEMP: -35, clear. HABITAT: flat limestone creekbottom below dam. OBSERVER: Frederick W. Schueler, P.Scott. rangerlog/a, Necturus maculosus (Mudpuppy). 12 ca adult, seen, active. walking about on bottom, ca 30 sq m searched, 30-50 cm deep. Clear full moon, and spotlight from the bridge shining on the dam and water (also an illuminated Xmas tree on the bank). Mist from the water filled the area between the dam and the bridge, but there was surprisingly little ice, and most of the area covered (on the S side) was just a skim of 1-1. 5 cm new ice about 8 x 20 m.

Water was flowing over the 'usual vantage point' of last yr, and much of the centre of the stream was too turbulent to search in any event, even if our headlamp batteries hadn't been weak and failing. There seemed to be as many Necturus as at any visit last year.

8 January 1994

Oxford Mills Dam, Kemptville Creek. UTM 18TVE 464.5 790.5 44.96486N 75.67863W. TIME: 2043-2100. AIR TEMP: -15, overcast. HABITAT: flat limestone creekbottom below dam. OBSERVER: Frederick W. Schueler, Jennifer Helene Schueler. rangerlog/a, visit () (E). nh, dipnetted. NO:Necturus, cleared ice but didn't see any Mudpuppies. Cleared ca 5 sq m, most of the area covered with ice and snow. We didn't see any Mudpuppies, but our lights were dim and the floodlights were bright.

21 November 1995

Oxford Mills Dam, Kemptville Creek. UTM 18TVE 464.5 790.5 44.96486N 75.67863W. TIME: 2039-2050. AIR TEMP: 0, clearing. HABITAT: flat limestone creekbottom below dam. OBSERVER: Frederick W. Schueler, Jennifer Helene Schueler, David Seburn. 95/155/a, visit () (E). nat.hist., seen. NO:Necturus or other animals seen, water very high. This was a preliminary trip to scan for Mudpuppies, but the stream was far too high from the rainy fall and past few days of soggy snow; I wasn't even sure I could identify the spot where I usually stand to count them, but it was at least 20 cm below the surface. We did search along the SE bank, but couldn't be sure we were even seeing stream bottom rather than bank-bottom rock. We retired to the Brigadoon to plan a Bullfrog brochure.

16 March 1996

Oxford Mills Dam, Kemptville Creek. UTM 18TVE 464.5 790.5 44.96486N 75.67863W. TIME: 2034-2150. AIR TEMP: -7 ca, clear. HABITAT: flat limestone creekbottom below dam. OBSERVER: Frederick W. Schueler, David Seburn. 96/019/a, visit () (E). nat.hist., wade. creek higher than winter levels, NO:Necturus seen. Water is coming over all spillways of the dam, and the 'usual vantage spot' is flooded 20 cm deep. There were flat shelves of slippery ice along the shore which I cut away at with the axe for a bit, but nothing we did revelaed any Mudpuppies. Maybe we should have brought the glass-bottom busket.

David had worked the quieter W shore before I came, and hadn't seen any. We retired to the Brigadoon and had a cup of coffee/hot chocolate.

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