Salamander Monitoring at The Wilderness Center

Blog moved

2010-03-11T13:41:00.001-05:00

We have consolidated out blogs - all future salamander monitoring posts can be found here, on our Wilderness Wanderings Blog. Please visit us there!

First Salamanders of the Year

2009-02-12T11:58:00.006-05:00

Yesterday was nearly 70 degrees here at The Wilderness Center. These two salamanders - a Dusky and a Redbacked were found near the vernal pond on the Wilderness Walk. Both have a naso-labial groove, a small groove running from nose to lip (labeled on the Red-backed picture. Chemical cues in the environment are picked up by the capillary action of this groove. This groove is a defining characteristic of the Plethodon (lungless) Salamanders.

Spring!

2008-03-06T12:10:00.002-05:00

The salamanders will be moving soon! If you would like to be part of our annual migration night hikes to see the Spotted Salamander, give us a call at 330-359-5235 or email carrie@wildernesscenter.org to be put on the call list. We'll call (or email) with details about when the hikes will be.

See you on the trail!
~Carrie

A Long Winter's Nap

2007-11-29T13:24:00.000-05:00

We won't be seeing too many salamanders now until the first warm rainy days of spring. If you would like to be notified of our spring salamander night hikes, please email Carrie at carrie@wildernesscenter.org or call 877-359-5235. We'll do our first hike as soon as we get a nice warm rainy night this Spring.

2007-05-02T11:12:00.000-05:00

This Longtail Salamander was found during our docent training yesterday. This is a new species record for The Wilderness Center. This one appears to have lost its tail and not fully regenerated it yet. Normally, the tail is around 60% of the total body length. These salamanders prefer shale banks or seepage areas - this one was found in a spring flowing through a limestone outcropping.

Salamander Hunting

2007-04-21T08:22:00.000-05:00

This week, instead of our usual Wilderness Walk (see TWC homepage for dates of upcoming hikes), I took the group salamander hunting. These pictures are from that hike. Thanks to everyone on the hike - you are salamander hunters par excellenence! We found nearly 40 salamanders in under an hour. We found Ravine Salamanders, Red-backed salamanders (incuding the lead-backed phase), and a Jefferson Salamander. We also a beautiful red cup fungus and the first American Toad of the season.

Spermataphores

2007-03-23T08:24:00.000-05:00

A sure sign that salamanders have been busy in the spring pond are these gelatinous blobs. The blobs are called spermataphores, and are small sperm packets. Males deposit these packets; females squat over them and the packets are taken into the cloaca where they will fertilize the eggs. We should be seeing egg masses soon!

First salamanders of the year

2007-03-23T07:01:00.000-05:00

About 2330h last night, it began to rain, a nice soft spring rain. I made another trek out to check on the spring pond and it was full of salamanders! The rain really got them moving. I saw several salamanders crossing the trail. The Spotted Salamander in the first picture was sitting on the asphalt near our astronomy building. There were also several Red-backed Salamanders on the sidewalk near the interpretive building. The one in the picture on the bottom has lost part its tail. Many salamanders can drop part of their tail when threatened - the tail will continue to thrash, allowing the salamander to quietly slip away.

Salamander Night Hike

2007-03-22T20:28:00.000-05:00

These pictures are from our first salamander night hike. There were lots of wood frogs at the spring pond! We saw only two spotted salamanders, but were able to catch one for an up-close look. Before our hike, we were able to join the birding club for their annual woodcock watch in the prairie. Thanks Nicole, Christine, Manny, Luke, Ben, and Randy for coming along on the hike!

Spring is here!

2007-03-22T10:32:00.000-05:00

I just got back from the spring pond and it's full of wood frogs! That means the salamanders are not far behind. In fact, there is already one spotted salamander egg mass in the pond. Tonight (Mar 22nd) will be the first night hike. We'll meet at the upper picnic shelter at 7:45. We'll do another hike on Friday, March 23rd at 11am to check the traps and look for eggs. Anyone is welcome to join us for either hike! Watch the blog to see what we find!

Salamander Sprouts

2007-02-23T13:03:00.001-05:00

It's still too cold for the salamanders to be prowling about, but it was plenty warm for Spencer and Abby to learn about salamanders! Both kids took part in the Wilderness Sprouts program where they learned about salamanders, read The Salamander Room, and made their very own shoebox salamander habitats to take home. Abby and Spencer also got a hands-on, up close look at the two young spotted salamanders being reared at the office. The salamanders were caught as larvae earlier in the year at the vernal pond. Because salamander larvae are so hard to correctly identify, we held on to them until they metamorphosed (lost their gills and moved to land) and were more easily identified. They have quite a few brothers and sisters still in small pond.

Salamander hike sign-up

2007-02-03T18:34:00.000-05:00

Join us for a salamander hike this spring! On the first warm, rainy nights of spring, salamanders will begin to migrate to our small ponds to breed. Because we can't predict when that first rainy night will be, we are taking the names and numbers of those of you who would like to see this event. When we suspect the salamanders are starting to move, we'll schedule night hikes and give you a call to let you know when they will be. If you would like to join this call list, please call TWC at 330-359-5235 and leave your name and phone number. We hope to see you this spring!

2007-01-26T16:50:00.000-05:00

This page is under construction - please stop back soon!