LGLC 2025 Discovery Series: Seeking signs of spring in vernal pools

Each spring, melting snow creates temporary ponds in the woodlands. These vernal pools will dry out by mid-July, but their brief existence provides an ideal place for frogs, salamanders and other amphibians to lay their eggs. The nature of vernal pools makes them unable to support fish that would otherwise feast on these eggs as an easy meal.

Saturday morning, Up Yonda Farm naturalist Rick Landry led a group into the woods searching for the jelly-encapsulated eggs, a sure sign of spring, in the vernal pools of Godwin Preserve in Bolton. The hike is part of the 2025 Discovery Series offered by the Lake George Land Conservancy in partnership with Up Yonda.

The themed, naturalist-led hikes are scheduled from February through October and combine education and recreation. Upcoming topics in the 2025 Discovery Series include Adirondack geology, birding and beavers.

Hiking with a naturalist is different from goal-orientated hiking that speeds along a trail to reach a summit or check off a trail from a challenge list. Instead, hikers slow down and investigate the leaves on the ground, the bark and needles of trailside trees, the random moss-covered boulders one encounters, the calls of birds overhead and signs of animal life in the woods and waters.

Saturday’s “The Signs of Spring — Amphibians” Discovery hike began on a chilly April morning. Those traveling from points south of Bolton arrived at the Godwin Preserve trailhead with fresh snow on their vehicles. The cold temperatures kept the peepers and newts buried in the mud, waiting for warmer weather before they began moving to the surface to lay eggs.

While the hikers didn’t observe any amphibians or clumps of jellied eggs in the vernal pools, they came away with a wealth of information about the amphibian life cycle from the aquatic larval stage to the terrestrial adult stage.

Along the trail, Landry taught the hikers some tree identification techniques, explained the importance of the hemlock forests, and located a whistling chickadee in a trailside beech tree. He spotted rectangular holes drilled out of a dead tree by an industrious pileated woodpecker, prompting him to spend a few minutes discussing woodpecker tongues.

“Woodpeckers can’t wear helmets because … well, there’re birds,” says Landry. So how do they avoid concussions as they pound their heads against trees? The woodpecker’s tongue, he explained, coils back into the bird’s head and loops over the brain, providing cushioning that “protects the brain from all that banging around.”

The 2025 Discovery Series hikes are held on LGLC preserves in Bolton. They are free and open to the public. Hikers must register at least 24 hours before the hike. Visit the LGLC website for program descriptions and registration.