Michigan Salamander migration/MI-gration

Me/Jaymes, Chad/Gregarious and Jessie/JessKB had a great time tonight. Thunder storms and temperatures between 50-60 degrees we thought it would be perfect salamander weather. We headed toward vernal pools with determination. At the 1st vernal pond we arrived at I spotted my 1st salamander of the night within 3-4 minutes. It was a Tiger Salamander.

Salamanders were dense in the vernal ponds. We even found egg masses from Blue Spotted Salamanders. Yellow Spotted Salamanders were still laying spermatophores and courting. I'm almost sure that all the Tiger Salamanders we saw were males. I'm thinking the the female Tiger Salamanders haven't reached the ponds yet. The only frog we heard calling was a lone Wood Frog. Seems like the salamanders beat the frogs this year, usually the Spring Peepers are out calling in full force before anything.

We tried not to disturb the salamanders as much as possible and kept our interference at a minimum. I maybe handled 3-5 salamanders the whole night. We had a blast!

Here is a list of all the salamanders/newt and frogs we identified.

Ambystoma laterale/Blue Spotted Salamander
Ambystoma maculatum/Yellow Spotted Salamander
Ambystoma tigrinum/Eastern Tiger Salamander

Notophthalmus viridescens louisianensis/Central Newt

Lithobates clamitans/Green Frog
Lithobates sylvatica/Wood Frog
Pseudacris crucifer/Spring Peeper

Check out the VIDEO also! Michigan Salamander MI-gration/migration - YouTube

Sorry I couldn't come along!

Last night was phenomenal! I can't say I've ever had so much fun herping. The Macs were so thick in one pond that everywhere you looked there was a salamander. Jaymes and Chad are great guys to herp with and the weather was just right. The best part was I drove less than half an hour to get to the sites You couldn't really ask for a better night


Here's a spotted that we all got good pictures of. Notice the orange freckles near her nose. Most of the macs we found didn't have much orange on their heads.




The spotteds were everywhere!



Every so often a noto would glide by under the flashlight




Seeing laterale is like seeing an old dependable friend, they're always there. I missed these guys during the winter!




All in all it was a great night. Four species, including tigers, which can be difficult to find in MI, and I got to see A. Maculatum for the first time. Not to mention the great company. Not bad for my first salamander migration! I can't wait to get out and do it again!

Kaysie said:

Sorry I couldn't come along!

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Sorry I didn't call you. It was SO last minute. I didn't Even really know I was going.

Do you mind if I ask where in MI you were? I'm a Michigander, and I would've loved to go.

MarshallsMom said:

Do you mind if I ask where in MI you were? I'm a Michigander, and I would've loved to go.

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Can't say exactly but if you ever wanted go out we could meet up send me a PM. Where are you located? Ponds should be hot for the next couple days. Or if it thunder storms again it'll be prime to head out. Sorry about the discretion hope you understand. It's going to rain again in a couple days.

One must guard his and take precaution.

I'm going to hit some west side of the state sites tonight. I hope I see even half of what you guys lucked out on!

Willlis said:

I'm going to hit some west side of the state sites tonight. I hope I see even half of what you guys lucked out on!

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If you do see anything make sure you get pics! I'd like to know what's on the west side!

It's cool, dude. I'm in Georgia right now anyway.

Great site over here with laterale, maculatum, tigers, four spotted, and redbacks. Plus a ton of reptiles too.

Neotenic_Jaymes said:

If you do see anything make sure you get pics! I'd like to know what's on the west side!

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