Conservation Commission

The Wilderness in Amherst’s Backyards

by ACC Member, Anne Krantz

A crescendo of music and noise is building in our backyards, from the mud along swamps to the tops of the tallest trees. Wildlife is busy doing what it is here to do - produce babies.

Vernal pools, the depressions in woods that catch the snow melt, are alive with activity. Once the water reaches 50 degrees in March or April, amphibians like the spotted salamander make mass migrations from their winter hibernation sites in the woods back to the pools where they hatched. The adults breed and lay large egg masses that hatch in 30 to 50 days. The gilled tadpoles require two to three months to grow and transform into air breathing salamanders. Their survival is a race against the seasonal cycle of the pool’s disappearance. But they don’t survive at all in water with fish, so amphibians have found a unique and safe habitat.

Other amphibians, the northern spring peeper and the eastern American toad follow a similar routine with mass migrations on rainy April nights. This habit does not work well when highways are in their path, as seen by the mess on roads the following morning.

Peepers have been singing for several weeks - they are virtual ventriloquists as their piercing call echoes around the woods at edges of ponds. After hibernating under moss and leaves they travel to shallow weedy ponds to lay their egg masses. Their adult food preference is small insects: ants, flies, beetles, mites, ticks, spiders. Keep the peepers!!! Toads, also lay their huge egg masses in shallow water, and are insect eaters too. They like the moist soil found in gardens, but they need shade from the hot summer sun. Put toad houses out in your garden to encourage these useful insect and grub eaters to take up residence. They won’t be happy if doused with garden chemicals though!

Wood frogs also create a chorus that sounds like a flock of baby ducks, echoing from the trees surrounding small ponds. They are the most northern ‘tetrapod’ or four legged creature, and often breed before the ice is off the water. Adult wood frogs have been seen migrating across surface ice toward other chorusing frogs -music to their ears.

Turtles, a reptile, live in and out of the water, and several kinds are found in Amherst. They lay their eggs in sandy banks, unprotected from prey including dogs. Snapping turtles are the most common here. Besides looking fierce and dangerous, they tolerate polluted water. They will travel overland long distances to instinctively find a suitable site to deposit the eggs. A sandy, sunny, warm spot will do even if it is right next to a road where the dogs are walked.

A wide variety of little rodents and mammals live happily in Amherst, but some don’t make gardeners and homeowners happy. Residential suburban lawns are a perfect habitat for annoying little moles, underground mammals that tunnel in loose, moist soil looking for worms and grubs. They breed in April and their 3-5 babies will arrive about 45 days later.

It is no surprise to learn that the eastern vole is one of the most abundant rodent mammals in New England. They also build extensive tunnel and runway systems but unlike moles, they are vegetarians and go after roots, bulbs, bark of young trees, seeds and grains. Their reproduction potential is staggering; they are sexually mature in 4 to 5 weeks and breed throughout the year. Their gestation period is short - 21 days, and then they produce a litter of 4 to 5 young.

Chipmunks eat just about anything. When their winter food supply of acorns and nuts is plentiful, they become plentiful, and can become a nuisance around homes. They breed twice a season and have litters of four or five. Squirrels also breed twice a season, and have two to four babies. The first litter has just arrived and the mothers are hungry. Guard you bird feeders!

Many large wild animals live in Amherst because there is suitable habitat to provide the needed water, food and shelter. Water is plentiful: wetlands, vernal pools, ponds, lakes, and the Souhegan River. Our natural diversity of plants and wildlife provides food for every taste; plants for the herbivores, and a smorgasbord for the carnivores; insects at the bottom of the food chain, on up to the all the little creatures of the water and woods. Even the woods in our back yards can provide the needed shelter for the suburban wild animals like skunks and raccoons, and deer.

Amherst’s network of wetlands is home to an amazing array of water loving mammals. One seen occasionally is the muskrat, prized for its lustrous fur. The rich brown fur is oily and waterproof, preventing muskrats from freezing in cold water. They are herbivores who eat cattails, sedges and aquatic plants. Muskrats need water that is at a constant depth to build their rush and grass houses with underwater entrances. Their eating habits destroy their habitat and they must move often and can travel up to 20 miles overland - the muskrat ramble! This usually occurs in the spring when the yearlings are expelled from their homestead. The five to eight babies will arrive soon, and they can have two litters a season. They are territorial and defend their homes. Their name come from the sweet and strong scent of their urine and their naked rat-like tail. Minks are one of their enemies.

Minks live near water preferring log-strewn forested wetlands with a thicket cover. They den inside hollow logs and have four or five kits in March or April.

Beaver are very happy in Amherst with our slow moving tree lined streams. Their dams and log houses are an engineering marvel. They not only build cozy houses for their families but create whole habitats suitable for their life style. Two generations of offspring live with the parents. This year’s two to five babies will arrive in May.

Fishers, one of beaver’s enemies, are becoming more frequently noticed in Amherst. They are remarkable for their gorgeous black fur tails. They have one to two kits in the spring.
      This is just a sample of the many amphibians, reptiles, mammals, or wild animals living in Amherst’s wetlands, backyards, and forests. Otters, skunks, raccoons, porcupine, red and gray foxes, coyotes, deer, moose are all busy these spring days with their family responsibilities.

To learn more about the many other kinds of wildlife lurking in the wetlands and woods in Amherst, see the comprehensive new book used as the reference for this article: New England Wildlife, by Degraff and Yamasaki, in the Amherst Library.