Oh, no--About an hour after releasing the salamanders in Crystal Pond (our seep pond), I returned with the intention of cutting cattails along the edges. As I crested the hill, I saw a Great Blue Heron rising up from the center of the pond--leaving muddied the very spot where we had released the salamanders.
We see GBHs a lot around here--in the creek. This is the first either of us has seen a GBH in Crystal Pond. A coincidence? I hope so. The Crystal Pond is full of frogs and minnows--it would be a logical place for GBHs to hunt. With the heat, we haven't been monitoring the Crystal Pond as we sometimes do. Maybe GBHs have been coming there regularly, and we have just missed them.
But if it wasn't a coincidence--how did a Great Blue Heron find out so quickly the salamanders were there? How did they know the salamanders were neophytes, still figuring out their new environment, including hiding places?
Should we have waited until dark to release the salamanders? Or would that just have been an open invitation to raccoons?
Welcome to the land community, little guys. Meet your next-door neighbor, a Great Blue Heron.
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