REBIRTH OF A VERNAL POND

 DEC Wildlife Preserve, Calverton, NY

This year the Otis Pike Preserve in Calverton, has made a great come-back from a few years ago when this vernal pond area was completely destroyed by inconsiderate people and their dogs, horse back and quad riders. This is an environmentally sensitive area with signs posted. This is also the breeding grounds of the Endangered Tiger Salamander. The DEC kept this area closed to the public this year and I have noticed greater species numbers in odonates, cicada killers and frogs. 

I have been surveying this area since 2005 and so have a lot of documentation on species and habit. In the past, people coming to this small DEC park brought dogs here to do field trials but were not allowed but did it anyway. The dogs constantly running through the vernal ponds to fetch objects for their owners were trampling the bluets and forktails on the shore, crushed all the emergent vegetation into the water or ground and destroyed all the Cicada Killer burrows by running back and forth over them.

Below are some documentation photos I took in 2010 and a few days ago to submit to the DEC for them to keep on file in case the Hunting Group asks for permission again to hold field trials in this preserve.

I have yet to see the return of the Sweetflag Spreadwing (Lestes forcipatus) since last year. The female of this species uses the emergent vegetation or reeds to lay her eggs. Her specialized ovapositer creates a slit in the reeds and she lays her eggs inside the plant. At the time when I noticed all the emergent vegetation destroyed this was the first species I thought about because I was not sure if it had an alternative egg laying method. 

In addition to all the habitat destruction all the hunters that did field trials here with their dogs fired off a lot of rounds to train the dogs. And in so doing, they left large numbers of the shell casings all over the preserve and in the water and made no effort to clean them up. 

This is what the Spreadwings and other Dragonflies were left with to lay eggs or emerge from the water.

Surprisingly Citrine Forktails (Ischnura hastata) were in greater numbers then I had ever seen before. Usually I am lucky if I saw one but now I saw about thirty.

Martha's Pennant (Celithemis martha)

Calico Pennant (Celithemis elisa)

So far this year I am seeing more of a variety of species and in greater numbers. Maybe because this area, that is usually open to the public after Tiger Salamander breeding season, this year has not been reopened. People were bringing their dogs in the preserve to train on their own after the gates were opened. Rangers were frequently chasing people out of the preserve that had dogs with them. 

I am hoping to see more Lestes this year, especially the Sweetflag Spreadwing (Lestes forcipatus). I am already seeing a greater number of five species of frogs, dragonflies, damselflies, very large numbers of Cicada Killers, birds and even Muskrats, which I had never seen before at this preserve!