Wild Encounters in WA

[Exdraghunt]

I received an email that there were amphibian eggs easily visible in a small pond in a local city park. So, me being me, I had to go check it out. And bring people with me, because I heard a lot of people say that they had never seen amphibian eggs before. I think they just don't know what to look for, so I led a small group on an "Amphibian Easter Egg Hunt"

Delightfully, the small pond was stuffed with Northwestern Salamander egg masses. (No frogs, oddly, but I think the invasive American Bullfrogs at the pond have run off any of the native frogs that are normally more common)

Nice example of a Northwestern Salamander egg mass, attached to a large stick.

Egg masses from a distance. They look so much like algae globs after a few days, I'm not surprised that most people "Haven't seen amphibian eggs" They just need to know what to look for.

Not sure what these eggs are from. They were free floating (I just used the leaf to get a better photo of them). Northwestern eggs that came loose from a mass? (Those masses are so solid, I'm not sure how. Bullfrog predation?)

 

[Exdraghunt]

Some of the egg masses were unattached to anything (the pond has almost no submerged vegetation) so I was able to scoop up an egg mass to allow closer examination for the others in the group. I love in this one you can see the green hue of the symbiotic algae that grows inside of the eggs. (the eggs were then returned to where I found them)

Developing embryo in another mass nearby

 

[Exdraghunt]

It's tadpole time! While a survey usually means seeing innumerable frog tadpoles, everyone on the team was pleasantly surprised to find a couple of salamanders swimming about. I think we even have two different species (though it's so hard to tell them apart at this age)

Possible Northwestern Salamander.

Possible Long-Toed Salamander (they hatch earlier than Northwesterns, hence my guess as this one is clearly older)

 

[Exdraghunt]

Time for a toad break! Here's two different Western Toads, encountered on two different hiking trails, located in the same region of the Cascades.

A tiny little toadlet, hopping about on the hiking trail.

And an extremely impressive fully grown Western Toad. I didn't realize they got this large until I encountered this lovely example of toad-ness.

As I was hiking through some beautiful Old-Growth, the bushes rustled next to the trail. I, of course, had to know what could be rustling the bushes and went to get a closer look. Whatever the beast was, it was moving in a way I had never seen (certainly not mammalian!) Then I finally saw the creature and shouted with delight "IT'S A TOAD!" and to the shock of my hiking companion, produced the largest toad either of us had ever seen in the wild.

 

[Exdraghunt]

A toad bonanza! I was backpacking up in the North Cascades, on the edge of a large lake, and not expecting to see much in the lake (as it is stocked for fishing). To my surprise, as I sat on the lake shore catching the last of the sun's rays to read my book, a toad walked right out of the lake and took a break next to my foot.

He then wandered off and found a lady toad, climbing onto her back to engage in amplexus as I watched!

Later that night, as I slept, I was woken in the wee hours by the loud sound of a toad making a release call. (A bird-like chirping or twittering) It was so close, I poked my head out of my tent and found two toads engaged in amplexus underneath the rainfly of my tent. (Maybe the same ones?) The female had wedged herself between the pole and the body of my tent for some reason, the male on her back, but wandered off into the night when I grabbed my camera to try and get a recording.

It turned into a very toady trip, with me coming across at least one toad every single day. Apparently, this is when the Western Toads of the North Cascades are out and about looking for love!

The garter snakes of the area are also very fat and happy, no doubt a direct response to the toad abundance xD