By Larry Cornelis – Sydenham Field Naturalists
Last week we had warm weather with a warm rain that fell into the night.
A warm rain in late March or early April means one thing to me, ‘salamanders’!
So, my buddy and I had speculated earlier about the day’s weather forecast and the salamanders.
Sure enough, 9 p.m. (it was warm and raining) I get the call and I said yes, lets go!
On the way to our favourite spot/road to observe salamanders I was trying to avoid all the frogs and toads basking in the rain on the warm asphalt.
Sad, but a good sign the salamanders would be on the move too.
Our salamander spot is a country gravel road with forest on both sides, and vernal pools, a necessary requirement for successful salamander breeding.
It was still raining lightly and there were frogs and toads on the road.
Sadly, while we were there, four vehicles went by so you can imagine the result.
Well, we found three blue-spotted salamanders in about an hours’ time, not great, but this was enough to declare our spring foray into the rain to see salamanders a success.
YAY!
Seeing salamanders is a special thing for me as they are very hard to observe generally.
They hide under decaying damp logs, under leaf litter, under rocks and buried in the soil.
They are basically nocturnal too.
Frogs and toads on the other hand can be easily seen during the day.
To satisfy our lust for seeing and learning about salamanders, my friends and I have attended great outings with professors from the University of Tennessee in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
The park is considered the salamander capitol of the world with approximately 30 species.
The state of Tennessee boasts about 50 species.
Here in southern Ontario, we have about eight species but locally around Wallaceburg there’s maybe four or five.
So why are salamanders crossing our gravel road hotspot?
Because they are searching for vernal pools to lay their gelatinous clusters of eggs in.
Vernal means springtime.
They are also called ephemeral pools because they are flooded for a short period of time in spring and early summer and then they dry up.
The drying up part is essential as it eliminates predators, such as fish, that would eat the eggs and larvae.
Of course, the vernal pool has to last long enough for the larvae to become small salamanders and be able to survive out of the water.
Two of our local species do not use vernal pools.
The mudpuppy lays its eggs in streams and lakes and the eastern red-backed salamander lays its eggs in damp rotting logs.
The eastern red-backed is our most abundant salamander.
The blue-spotted we saw crossing the road in the rain were heading to vernal pools.
Salamanders are carnivorous, eating insects and other invertebrates.
Although larger species will eat smaller species.
This goes for other amphibians and reptiles too, large snakes eating small snakes. Salamanders are a component of the interconnected web of life.
It is written in science journals that as a mass, the salamanders in a healthy pristine forest would out weigh all the other animals combined in the forest.
That makes them a force of nature controlling insects and other prey.
If you find a salamander, please don’t handle it unless it’s in peril.
They have moist soft skin that can absorb toxins and chemicals we may have on our hands.
But the next time you walk through the woods, consider that there are salamanders all around you, mostly underground.
Amazing if you stop to think about it.
For more details, visit: http://www.sydenhamfieldnaturalists.ca/
