A community for those individuals trying to teach the next generation to love nature one salamander at a time.
Look what I found!

After a lovely summer in the warm, dry pine barrens of Cape Cod, I'm gearing up for the fall teaching season in Connecticut. Though there won't be frog and salamander eggs in chilly, clear vernal pools when I arrive to start my season, I'm reminded of the best part of the job: seeing the looks of unbridled wonder and awe at that moment of discovery. :)




Vernal ponds! One of my first tasks as a park naturalist was to walk around and take note of which vernal ponds were most active to show the kids. (It was actually just practice for me to get acquainted--my mentor already knew the spots!) I still have a video of the uproar of frogs communicating around them.
So I am very late responding to this comment (like nearly a week? Yikes! I'm sorry!) because, well, I currently live in a place where you have to hike to the top of a mountain to get reception and we didn't have wifi hooked up. But oh my god, yes, vernal pools are so cool! I had never really explored them prior to taking this job, and I have some really magical memories of watching my students explore them this spring.
Did you notice any patterns in which vernal pools were most active?
That's alright! That sounds like bliss to be so unplugged, honestly. I'm glad you got to take this job and check out something new then! And yes, watching kids' eyes light up over a new experience is really awesome!
Unfortunately I was only there for a year, but there were some larger ponds that were a lot more active than others, and ones which were further into the park rather than on the edges near roads. One of the most popular was actually right below the nature center, so the isolated, quiet drive up to the parking lot didn't disrupt them for long! They were so noisy after just a moment of silence!