Virginia's Spring Vicissitudes

As a native Michigander, the start of my herping season usually coincides with a thunderstorm, seventy-degree early spring warm-ups, and a nighttime rain falling on a fifty degree night. Historically, such soaking nights yield most of my Ambystoma and huge numbers of frogs and toads. This year, however, my season started in South Carolina, so deep in the heart of the Southland that even February is a good salamander month.

Upon returning to Virginia, there was a three-week reprieve from herping, but the weather turned warm last week and a big thundershower rolled through the Shenandoah Valley Saturday evening after an all-day sprinkle, making a "maybe" road cruising condition night into a "you better believe it" night as far as weather conditions are concerned.

I drove through a downpour along I-81 to an exit where the mountains intrude into a valley and the back roads follow hollows along small streams back into the foothills. Within an hour and a half, I saw two Northern Spring Salamanders, two Northern Red Salamanders, and a biblical quantity of Wood Frogs and Eastern American Toads. Pictures are below. More stuff to come from the heavenly hills of Virginia when it gets warm to stay here in April. Enjoy the eye candy!

Happy herping, Jefferson

What a beauty!!!!

The ruber or the gyro?

The ruber