The End is Near

I can smell spring on the horizon. Maybe it is just wishful thinking, but now that we are getting into February I can almost hear the frogs starting to call. Times like this make me really miss southern Ohio. This year has been cold down there as well, but I am sure some of the frogs have been out and probably a few of the ambystomids as well. Lucky for me, I have a few days off at the end of the month that I plan on spending down that way with my brother and Carl. Hopefully, we will have some adventures to write home about....

Then we get nailed with 8 inches of snow. When will it ever end...

Snow doesn't totally exclude the chance of some herps

Another sure sign of spring is Ohio's Annual Amphibian/Reptile Conference series. Everyone interested in these creatures should be sure to check it out. This year, reptiles are the main feature and they have some wonderful speakers lined up. If you get real lucky, the rains coincide with the conference and you find plenty of great salamanders in the Columbus vicinity.

A few years ago my brother and I had a great drive back to Cincinnati.

And at my last conference we turned up one of these outside of Columbus

You can download registration forms here.

On other fronts, I will taking a short trip to Miami at the end of Febuary, I have a work trip planned for Phoenix in June and I have a nice new pair of binoculars I plan to put to the test this spring. Much of my herp energy lately has gone into finally updating my field notes and database from last year. I hope to blog more about that as soon as I finish...

I will try to get back in swing of things as the season continues to perk up.