A. maculatum migration

[jaster]

I have been going to this site four years now and it has never disappointed. It is a small plot of land owned by our local Audubon Society and mainly used for birding, but it is perfect for spotted salamanders. It started with a project I did and has continued to look at other things as well. The past two year we have been photographing and taking measurements on A. maculatum. I'm a bit fuzzy on the details (been out of the loop since graduating), but my friend and a professor are looking into spot color/ characteristics as it relates to body condition. This year we continued that and also swabbed for chytrid.

I love witnessing this event. Not only is this the first big herp outing I do every year, but to see a ton of these guys after a long spell of nothing in winter really gets me excited. No matter how many years I'm around for it, migrating A. maculatum will never lose its edge.

Cold, wet, collecting data. Can't get any better than that.

I only photographed one A. maculatum.... Saw about 80....

Second year in a row seeing a Pseudotriton montanus during the migration. There were two all night, this one and one that showed up later, DOR.

This area lays next to a small farm. Even though it doesn't get much traffic on the road, the ones who drive it have huge trucks. We finally came up with the idea to put a sign up this time of year to at least let them know what is going on. If they listen, well thats another story.

A Notophthalamus viridescens crossing the road. A first time for me to see an adult walking around and well away from the ponds. I love his stance.

Also seen were tons of peepers, one pickrel frog, a few good wood frogs and their egg masses, and a lone Desmognathus fuscus. No toads this year.

The number of A. maculatum was much less that last year, so next rain we get should bring the rest of them out. We checked the ponds which turned out to be clear of any spotted eggs. The next week or so should still bring in some excitement!

 

[Dino]

That looks like a most excellent venue for a rainy night outing. I just visited my spotted salamander pool and saw the beginning of their mating cycle. There were about a dozen maculatum, some spermatophore, but no egg masses. They were in about 10" of water and seemed to prefer to be in closer proximity to one another as darkness fell. I wanted to stay and see if I could observe egg laying but I was getting cramped and cold as night fell. One interesting observation is that one of the spotteds had no spots, except for a few small ones on the upper legs; entire body was uniformly colored that beautiful slate blue gray.

 

[ron1fritsch]

Great news Dino

What state are you located in? A coworker mentioned to me that yesterday at 30 degrees in Central IL a friend photographed 20 spotted sals. I live near Chicago, very cold now and most swamps/lakes still has a later of ice on. January was warmer than March!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Jefferson]

Amen, brother. Still waiting on any major movement up her in MI. But, oh boy, what I would give to see Mud sallies on a migration search up here in the frozen north. Good luck this year, and may we both find what we're looking for.

 

[Dino]

I'm in southwest PA. Big rain and cold (30s) the week before my trek. We had a nice warm up for a few days in early March. I was trying to get ahead of the egg laying, because every year I'm late and find just a few stragglers and lots of eggs. This year I was ahead of the egg laying and think I was seeing the first arrivals of spotteds. I'm wondering if the arrival is a gender differentiated sequence or if both sexes arrive together. If I understand their mating, males lay down spermatophore on the pool floor and females place it in themselves and then lay eggs. I have wanted to observe this, but am thinking that will require a camping trip.

 

[Kaysie]

I've found that males will arrive first, and stay longer. Females come a little later, drop their eggs, and high-tail it out of there. Males will wait around until the very last female is gone.

 

[jaster]

It is true what Kaysie said. Even the other night, males showed up first, followed by females within the nest few hours. The ratio is generally (always at this site) skewed towards males. Observing the exchange in this species is difficult. Even without rain disrupting the water surface, it is a mad breeding frenzy down there. Hard to make anything of it other than the obvious.

Jefferson: These are the only two adult P. montanus I have seen while living here. They just happen to be at the same time as this migration.

Dino: I have yet to find any melanistic individuals in my searching, but this year, one salamander turned up with the dullest yellow spots I have ever seen, It's always a great time observing the variety or coloration in any species. Especially when they are 'all' there like spotteds.


Thanks again guys!

 

[Dino]

Jaster and Kaysie, thanks to both of you for filling in some gaps. I visited my site last night, three days after my mid-week visit. Not knowing much about the duration of the mating ritual, I was curious as to what might be going on in the pool three days after my first visit. The pool was completely quiescent: spotteds gone, wood frogs gone, peepers silent. Lots of wood frog egg rafts and 6 spotted salamander egg masses. (This is considerably less than in previous years. I hope I'm observing some kind of a natural cycle rather than a trending decline in this population of these wonderful creatures). As to the duration of the breeding activities, it seems like it is a matter of hours rather than days...? The earlier observation revealed about a dozen spotteds in two groups kind of writhing around with plenty of spermatophore in evidence. In your experiences, they arrive and leave within how long?
As to the melanism, it would be beyond cool to isolate the melanistic individual and propagate to assess whether and how this is related to genetics. As with pan and homo, interesting questions exist as to ancestral divergence within genus ambystoma.

 

[Kaysie]

I was surveying in Alabama one spring. We had a late season freeze (late February), and the ice persisted for quite a few days. One of our ponds lost maybe 15 maculatum, I assume to suffocation, and we noted they were all male.

 

[jaster]

I have never stuck around long enough to watch individuals crawl back out of the ponds. They apparently do this at the same point they entered. Or at least, so I've heard. Haven't read that paper yet. I figure by morning most leave to land next to the pond or stay in... Breeding stops during the daytime.

 

[Nshepard]

From what I've seen, they leave the ponds at a slower rate than they come to the ponds.

 

[Dino]

Isn't she beautiful
just had to share