March 31, road cruise, wisconsin has awoken from winter

[dane_zu]

so, Monday night, just before I was going to go to bed I went out ot my car to get some Cd's out of it. It was fairly warm out and drizzling. I said to myself, I guess I could take a drive down to a chorus frog breeding pond and see if they are calling yet, I drove down to the ponds and they were louder then ever, i decided to do a little cruise around the neighborhood.

first find was a tiger salamander and a bullfrog, but I forgot I had my camera in my pocket I was so excited!

then I found 2 spotted salamanders(pictures of one of them)
Ambystoma Maculatum

then there were tons of blue-spotted salamanders, all way smaller then the guy I raised from larvae 2 years ago
Ambystoma laterale

then I decided to take a gander at the water, see if there were any sals swimming around, maybe breeding, heres what I found
two eastern tigers
Ambystoma tigrinum tigrinum

and here is a day time picture of the vernal pool, there is and open spot in the middle without all that vegetation

 

[John]

Superb, well done Dane. Thanks for sharing and I look forward to more .

 

[j_self]

Very Kool.

 

[sean]

amphibians

you are lucky over hear in the uk we can not do much herping because we do not have many amphibians but it is great to see picures like these.

 

[Nathan050793]

Bravo, those pictures are spectacular. I really wish I hadn't been 8-years old back in my vernal pool days. I could really enjoy them now.

 

[pete]

Great, gotta love spring time in the Field Herping Accounts forum

 

[dane_zu]

Thanks for the compliments, I don't think the full migration has happened yet, maybe the next time it rains on a warmer night they will come out in greater numbers.

 

[Neotenic_Jaymes]

wow! Where in WI do you live? I used to live in Manitowac. Wild life in WI is awesome, I miss being there especially at htis time of the year.

 

[dane_zu]

I'm located in Waukesha, and thats were these guys were found, I went out last night again and found 6 tiger salamanders and 4 blue spotted salamanders

everything I have found so far has been male

 

[Jan]

Simply beautiful!

 

[Kaysie]

Dane, you're a lucky bum. I went out to my local pond last night, and found nothing but Spring Peepers.

Some nearby wetlands held wood frogs, Copes and gray tree frogs, and possible chorus frogs in addition to the peepers.

No salamanders yet.

 

[dane_zu]

I have yet to see many frogs yet, the Grey tree frogs usually start calling much later then everything else in my area, I haven't heard any peepers or wood frogs yet.

I didn't notice the darker toe tips on that salamander till I looked at those pictures just now
(I'm going out today to see if any snakes are crawling around)