It all starts with the wood frogs often the first amphibians to unfreeze
and make their way to a vernal pool looking for love. Vernal pools are pools of water formed by snow melt and are not fed by a stream and they
completely dry up by July or August. Even before the ice has completely left
the vernal pools wood frogs are crawling out from under the forest leaves using
age old mental maps to make their way back the very same vernal pool they were
born in. Once the males have reached the vernal pool they start their “duck”like call looking for a mate. If you drove by a very large vernal pool you might think
there is a large flock of ducks nearby, but it is really a congregation of wood
frogs. After mating, female wood frogs
will lay about 1,000 eggs in a big jelly like mass next to hundreds of other
egg masses often laid by her sisters. These eggs will hatch in 10-30 days depending
on the water temperature. Warmer water will help to speed the eggs hatching. About the same time you start to hear wood frogs
you will hear tiny peeping noises which are the spring peepers, a species of tree frog, also gathering in the same vernal pools to mate. Depending on where you live you either hear
the spring peepers calling before the wood frogs or just after the wood frogs
start.
This all leads up to the BIG NIGHT! The mass migration of salamanders to vernal
pools where they gather to mate. It will be a dark and rainy night the first
one where the temperature is just a little over 45 degrees Fahrenheit. Imagine hundreds or even thousands of
salamanders headed to vernal pools all on the SAME night. This mass migration can cause roads to beclosed in order to protect the migrating masses. Scientist scramble on a minutes
notice to stake out their research areas to collect data. I once joined a group
of researchers to help collect data and I was NOT prepared for the number of
salamanders we saw that night! Dedicated volunteers gather to help carry salamanders
from one side of the road to the other. By early morning it is all over and the
salamanders are headed to their summer spots.
Watch the weather scan the headlines THE BIG NIGHT IS ALMOST
HERE!
Want to know more:
Check out this website for a cool picture of egg masses. Scroll down toward the bottom of the page. http://www.uri.edu/cels/nrs/paton/LH_wood_frog.html
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/nature/costanzo-cryobiology.html
http://www.fcps.edu/islandcreekes/ecology/wood_frog.htm
http://www.fcps.edu/islandcreekes/ecology/spring_peeper.htm
http://www.massaudubon.org/Nature_Connection/wildlife/index.php?id=58
http://www.vtfishandwildlife.com/vtcritters/factsheets/other/salamanders/Salamanders%20of%20Vermont122004.pdf
http://www.nwf.org/news-and-magazines/national-wildlife/animals/archives/2003/salamanders.aspx
