Bill
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- Jun 2, 2009
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- Lancaster, PA
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Here are some photos of my trip to a vernal pond on March 14/15. It is difficult for a 170 pound creature to arrive delicately, but after settling in and being motionless for 15 minutes I had eastern spotted newts, spotted salamanders, spring peepers and wood frogs within arms reach and all very intent on propagating their respective kinds. I never saw the h. pseudacris. They are masters of visual disguise even while loudly calling. The temperatures were in the 40s with 3 days of rain preceding. I had hoped to be ahead of the a. maculatum mating ritual but it had begun and by the end of the second day was winding down. They are quickly in and out of the pool and my guess is that the ritual is triggered by daylength. I am always left in awe by the sheer wildness and adaptedness of these wonderful creatures. In the photo of the pool, the white flecks are maculatum spermatophore. The vertical maculatum gal seems to be selecting a vegetative stalk for egg deposition. Moments after I took this shot she was engulfed in a cloud of murk stirred up by my feet. It is a problem I have when wading for pictures; next year I intend to have a catwalk over the pool for my photography. The r. sylvatica mass mating was typical of other groups on the water. These frogs were extremely wary when single, but utterly oblivious to disturbance while mating.
