I had complained the whole month of September. I love cruising for amphibians this time of year and it had only rained once, on a night I couldn't make it out. This night was looking promising. I checked two weather sites like clockwork all day long. What a frustrating endeavor to watch conflicting forecasts changing back and forth, from good to bad... to good... to shit - am I wasting my time?

I made a game time decision to leave work and head directly down into Delaware and Maryland. The rain looked decidedly good. Despite that, I still questioned and cursed myself the whole way down as friends bailed at the bleak outlook of rain actually hitting the area. I was on my own, which is no problem for me. But I've spent many-a-night two hours from home, walking around under cloudy skies hoping the humidity was enough to move something. If this night was to be one of those disappointments, a companion would have been great. Oh well.

Let's cut to the cruise... The rain arrived, and I thanked the heavens! With the first drops of rain, the herps began moving like a light turning on with the flip of a switch. It would be a memorable night. I'll give some quick highlights, then load up the page with a bunch of photos (if you haven't skipped to them already).

- 17 species

- 40+ Marbled Salamanders moved off the road

- Honestly, too many to count frogs but if I had to guess, I saw over 1000.

- Spadefeet, or Spadefoots... the debate rages on!

- Three, yes THREE Barking Treefrogs on three different roads. *State endangered

- AOR (alive on road) Smooth Earthsnake, whaaaaat?

- Beautiful AOR juvenile Black Ratsnake

- Snapping Turtle at 12:45 AM

- And finally, a new area for me that netted over a dozen each of Green Treefrogs and the new species - the Atlantic Coast Leopard Frog.

Now for the myriad of photos. Enjoy! ...I did.