Yesterday while dutifully searching the Internet for types of salamanders native to Massachusetts at Charlie's request, I came across the Massachusetts Herpetological Atlas website (which I would put a link to if I wasn't blogging from my iPad) which is a collaboration between UMass Amherst and The Audubon Society to document the range of all of Massachusetts' native reptile and amphibian species. To this end it relies on volunteers to photograph native species, fill out an online form and submit it so that it can then be reviewed, documented as a confirmed sighting and added to an interactive map which shows the range of each species in Massachusetts.
This is, as you might have guessed, extremely right up Charlie's alley. He submitted his first photograph today, of a salamander he found under our neighbor's trash can, which has already been confirmed as an Eastern Red-backed salamander and added to the database.
I have a feeling we'll be photographing quite a few critters this summer! And that "volunteer for the MA Herpetological Atlas project" will be going on Charlie's college application forms, ha ;-)
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