Streamside Salamanders in the Pond

Water depth, glare, and wind ripples have made it impossible for me to see whether or not the sunken tiles, rocks and boards, intended to receive the eggs of the Streamside Salamander, have actually been used this season. Streamside Salamanders typically lay their eggs on the undersides of flat rocks in small flowing streams. Absence of flowing water and large flat rocks will not necessarily make these salamanders abandon their breeding efforts. I added a breeding structure to the pond at Blue Jay Barrens in an attempt to provide a population of pond breeding Streamside Salamanders with a suitable structure to receive their eggs. In the past, this breeding aid has been readily used, but even in its absence Streamside Salamanders find a way to anchor their eggs and ensure breeding success.

When the water level drops in early summer, I use this board as a way to cross the mud between the dry bank and open water. During the winter and early spring months, I allow the board to float freely in the pond.

I used to remove the board during the winter and put it in a dry location for storage. One year the pond filled quickly from a late autumn rainstorm followed by a quick freeze that trapped the board in the ice in the center the pond. The board stayed out of reach until early spring. When I finally went to pull it in, I found the bottom surface covered with Streamside Salamander eggs. Now I just let the board stay in the pond as an alternate breeding site for the Streamside Salamanders.

The Streamside Salamanders also utilize as an egg laying site, pads of terrestrial moss that grow on the bottom of pond during the dry season. The activity of the egg laying salamanders causes the moss to lose contact with the muddy pond bottom and begin to float free.

Some of the moss pads containing egg clusters are held in place by surrounding vegetation. Others break loose and float about the pond. The eggs seem to develop properly and hatch in either condition.

The Jefferson Salamander eggs have picked up a covering of silt washed in from the nearby Township road. This covering may actually provide a beneficial screen against excessive UV radiation.

The embryos in the cluster are well-developed and probably within a week of hatching.

Many empty jellies are also floating around the pond, a sign that a successful hatching has been completed.

Wood Frogs have been calling from the pond for the past week. New egg clusters appear every night.

Most of the Wood Frog tadpoles will end up as salamander food. All of the tadpoles, both frog and salamander, will be racing to complete their metamorphosis before the water of the temporary pond disappears later this summer.

Jefferson Salamanders Breeding

Five inches of rain fell at Blue Jay Barrens between December 22 and December 28.  The result was a pond full of water and the start of the 2016 salamander breeding season.  The water remained high and murky for a few days following the end of the rain, but by January 1 had regained its clarity and returned to its typical winter full level.

Egg clusters were evidence that salamanders had moved into the pond sometime during that December rain.  Even when I’m out at the right time, I rarely encounter salamanders entering the pond.  I believe most emerge from a series of subterranean passages associated with a seasonal spring that flows into the upper end of the pond.  During times of low pond water level, I have observed salamanders moving into and out of these passages.  When water level is high, the distance from the passage openings to the pond is less than a foot, so there’s not much opportunity to view a salamander heading for the pond.  Add to this the fact that runoff water travels both through these passages and over the passage openings, and it becomes nearly impossible to find salamanders while it is actually raining.

A few new egg clusters appear every day. 

Several egg clusters were attached to twigs that were inundated while the pond was in flood stage.  As soon as the water returned to its normal level, these eggs were left hanging in the air.  They have suffered from both drying and freezing, so they are lost.  Fortunately, the eggs suffering this fate were but a small percentage of the total in the pond.

The only species I am currently seeing in the pond is Jefferson Salamanders.  This is typical.  Jeffersons usually appear in early January, Streamside Salamanders enter the pond in early February and Spotted Salamanders show up in March.  The Jefferson Salamanders will remain in the pond for another month or two and will probably be joined by more of their species later in the month.  Near the end of the breeding season there will be Jefferson Salamander egg clusters in all stages of development from newly laid to ready to hatch.  Even though winter still has about two and a half months to go, the presence of salamander eggs makes me feel that spring has arrived.

Return of Heavy Snow

The latest winter storm began dropping snow on Blue Jay Barrens early Wednesday evening.  Snow fell steadily through the night and continued until late Thursday morning.  The total snowfall was eight inches. That wasn’t close to being a record, but an eight inch snow is considered to be a major event in this area.  Temperatures are predicted to warm rapidly over the next week which should melt this snow fairly soon.  Of course, thick snow cover has a way of keeping temperatures colder than predicted, so I expect to be seeing this snow for a while.

Unlike our last snow event, this snow began with a couple inches of large wet flakes that stuck to whatever they touched.  This formed a base of snow on tree branches that caught much of the dry snow that followed.  Cedar branches developed a noticeable droop.  Some cedars lost their cone shape altogether and took on the appearance of sprawling shrubs.  Most will recover their shapes once the snow melts, but there are always a few left with a permanent disfigurement.

The Indian Grass managed to remain upright through this snow.  A few stalks developed a strong lean, primarily due to becoming saturated with water during a heavy rain event preceding the snow.

This winter storm officially began as rain on Tuesday afternoon.  Temperatures reached 50^oF and almost two inches of rain fell during the next 24 hours.  By the time the rain changed over to snow, most of the snow from the prior storm had melted.

The rain was more than enough to fill the pond.  Cloudy water made it impossible to make a visual check for any new salamander activity.  Frozen slush now covers the pond’s surface, so I’ll have to wait for the melt to see what may be occurring in the water.  A few Spring Peepers began calling late Wednesday afternoon, but they grew silent when the temperature and the heavy snow began to fall.

During that brief period between one snow cover and the next, I noticed that voles had left the tall grass fields and extended their foraging tunnels into the lawn.  Voles forage in areas that provide a thick grass canopy capable of shielding their activities from predators.  Deep snow offers a temporary canopy cover that allows foraging in normally inaccessible areas.

Voles are plant eaters that feed on a variety of leaves, stems, bulbs and roots.  As they progress through an area, eating whatever they find suitable, they develop runways that are then used as travel lanes to quickly escape predators, move to and from temporary nests, or to access new foraging areas.  The floor of the runway is generally bare ground and the sides are lined with plant material unsuited to consumption.  Extensive systems are often developed.

I’m impressed by the amount of work the voles were able to accomplish in the short time the yard was covered by snow.  It’s a more impressive accomplishment when you consider that the vole was eating its way along.  Fortunately, I have no desire to make the lawn a manicured landscape of introduced grasses, so am not disturbed by the activities of a few hungry voles.

Open Water

The creek and its tributaries are the only natural source of open water at Blue Jay Barrens.  From Fall through Spring, the creek provides drinking and bathing water to a wide variety of birds and mammals.  Summer water is less dependable.  It is common for the creek to stop flowing for several weeks during August and early September.  Occasionally the dry season extends for months.

I have always enjoyed dabbling in water.  As a child, I could spend hours exploring a puddle in the yard. Finding mosquito larvae in the air conditioner drip pan was like discovering a gold mine.  My parents didn’t appreciate my efforts to increase water opportunities by enlarging potholes in the driveway or excavating beneath the downspouts.  My neighbors seemed to share this attitude.  So it’s only natural that once I reached a point where other people’s opinions had no bearing on my actions, I would create pools of water wherever I pleased.  The water garden, as artificial a body of water as you can get, proved quite effective at drawing animals as well as plants into position for my enjoyment.  It does freeze over easily though and doesn’t provide a reliable source of open water for the local wildlife in winter.

Even though my later attempts at developing open water are still artificial creations, they function more naturally than the water garden.  The established toad pool in the foreground and its under construction counterpart behind, are intended to provide a breeding environment for toads.  A declining toad population is coinciding with a decrease in Hognose Snake sightings.  The snakes feed on toads, so it seems logical that increasing the toad population will benefit the snakes.  It’s just a happy bonus that the pools also benefit a wide variety of other animals and give me more places to play in the water.

The new toad pool is still under construction.  The dam creating this pool is composed of topsoil that will eventually be used as topdressing over the permanent dam.  The center of the planned dam will be along the line of stakes sticking from the water.  Pooled water slowly seeps through this temporary dam and emerges clean on the downstream side.  This keeps sediment from actually leaving the construction site during the winter.

Seasonal springs emerge just above the planned water line.  The springs are almost keeping up with the seepage loss through the dam.  This makes me optimistic that the springs will easily keep the pool full of water well into early summer.  Deer visit the pool every night and seem to delight in running and jumping through the mud.

Cold weather caps the pools with ice.  The established pool is fed by a single small spring, but that is enough to keep a bit of water unfrozen.

The spring keeps a small area of open water available to visiting wildlife

The same conditions occur in the pond, an artificial water body that was created long before I purchased the property. 

A strong seasonal spring produces a continuous stream of water entering the pond throughout the winter.

The warm water from the spring maintains a large area of open water.  Even through the coldest winters, this portion of the pond remains unfrozen.  When other water sources freeze over, birds flock here to drink and bathe.

Water from the spring also helps maintain adequate water for the survival of the breeding salamanders.  The view may be blocked by snow, but the salamanders are busy with courtship and egg laying activities beneath the ice.  I would never threaten the native prairies of Blue Jay Barrens with a water development project.  I’m just glad there are a few areas of undesirable vegetation available for conversion to open water.

Salamander Breeding Season Begins - 2015

Jefferson Salamanders arrived in the pond on the night of January 3 to begin their annual courtship and egg laying activities.  Jeffersons are always the first species to arrive each year.  Depending on weather conditions, they may be as much as six weeks ahead of the Streamside salamanders that follow.  Spotted salamanders, the last of the three species likely to visit the pond, won’t be seen until March or April.

Blue Jay Barrens is still recovering from a minor summer drought, so availability of water may be a possible hindrance to breeding success this year.  This is how things looked on January 2. Weather reports called for heavy rain and temperatures in the 50’s for the next day and night.  I was sure these conditions would get the salamanders moving and was hopeful that we would get enough rainfall to fill the pond.

The temperatures on January 3 did indeed exceed 60 degrees and intermittent rain fell through the day.  The rainfall amount, however, turned out to be much less than anticipated, resulting in a negligible increase in water depth.  This is a record low water level for the beginning of salamander breeding.  If things don’t improve, eggs and adults both may be threatened by a shrinking water supply.  To add to the threat, several days of below freezing temperatures are predicted for the next week and lows are expected to drop to near zero.  A large volume of this shallow pool may freeze before temperatures moderate once again.

We only got 0.8 inches of rainfall and 0.6 inches of that fell during the day.  By sundown, the rain had stopped and the prospects of it starting again were slight.  I was doubtful that any salamanders would emerge.  Sometime during the night, the remaining 0.2 inches of rain fell.  I really didn’t expect to find anything the next morning, but as I approached the pond the dark shapes of salamanders were easy to see against the light colored soil on the pond bottom. 

I counted 16 salamanders moving around in the deepest area of the pond.  At least 12 individuals are visible in this photo.

During the time I watched, several pairs interacted in what appeared to be courtship activities.

I netted a couple of salamanders just to be sure of the identification.  Both were quite robust and appeared to be in good health.

This male seemed almost frantic to get back to the water. 

It climbed from the net and ran for the pond.

No time was wasted rejoining the rest of the group.  I wish them success in their breeding attempts during this atypical year.

Salamander Breeding

In my opinion, there has not been a single night during the past three months that has had conditions suitable for salamanders to migrate overland to their breeding ponds.  Fortunately, the salamanders don’t have to wait for my approval to begin their courtship activities.  Mature salamanders are now abundant in the pond and it looks to be a record year for egg laying.

I’m still trying strategies for providing safe locations for attachment of salamander egg clusters.  My latest idea is a floating branch that can be moved to deeper water if drought causes a dramatic decline in pond water depth.  The jug acts as a float to keep the stump end of the branch from catching on the pond bottom.

The branch was favorably received by the salamanders.  The smaller stems are heavily garnished with jelly-like bags of salamander eggs.  Some people question my manipulation of this aquatic habitat, but some type of management becomes necessary when the pond and the associated amphibian population are not natural to this site.  Prior to construction of the pond approximately 60 years ago the site was dry and provided no aquatic environment in which amphibians could live or breed.  So, all of the frogs and salamanders currently breeding in the pond had to have come from somewhere else.

Up until 30 years ago, the pond held water year round and supported a population of stocked fish.  It was not until the fish could no longer survive that the pond became a suitable amphibian breeding site.  The few egg clusters I saw during my first years at Blue Jay Barrens may have been the first successful breeding attempt in the pond.  This single long branch contains more salamander egg clusters than could be found in the entire pond a mere 20 years ago.

It makes sense to assume that a point has been reached where new mature adult salamanders join the breeding population each year.  The adults are apparently finding a suitable subterranean environment in which to spend their time away from the pond.  A place that once had nothing to offer to salamanders is on its way to becoming a salamander oasis.

In several places the egg clusters were placed closely together to form a large mass.  These were attached to short grass left in the center of the breeding pool.  They should be at a depth that protects them from fluctuating water levels.

Across the pond bottom were areas of concentrated egg masses, individual clusters and even some instances of single eggs.

I was thinking the eggs were all newly placed until I noticed some jelly envelopes containing nearly developed larvae.  There had obviously been some minor breeding activity several weeks earlier than the latest explosive event.  Although I kept watch on the pond in an attempt witness the arrival of the salamanders, the 90 percent ice cover during the last two months has made observations difficult.  My manager self will have to explain to my staff self the need for vigilance in these types of pursuits.

By the time the newest eggs hatch, the earlier batch should be grown enough to find the hatchlings to be a tasty mouthful. 

Adult salamanders glided like shadows across the pond bottom.  It was evident by the activity that breeding was still ongoing.  Two individuals are shown here; one just below center and one top center.

Most of the salamanders were well outside my net range, but I was able to scoop a few near the shore.  I don’t know of anywhere nearby that could have been the original source for this Jefferson Salamander.  I know that a few individuals in each population are inclined to wander, but it would have been quite a journey for the Jefferson’s ancestors to travel to this pond.

I’m not sure what label should be properly attached to this guy.  Prior to the publication of the new Amphibians of Ohio book, I would have called it a Smallmouth Salamander.  The book puts the Smallmouth’s range at least 60 miles from Blue Jay Barrens.  Now I’m led to believe that this is a Streamside Salamander, a species that does breed in the local streams.  The Streamside is not a pond breeder.  Instead, it lays its eggs beneath flat rocks in the creek.  Apparently, in a pond situation, it can lay its eggs beneath logs, leaves or other vegetation and that may be what it’s up to here.  I think that next year I’ll put some boards and flat rocks in the pond and see if any Streamside eggs show up beneath them.  That should provide some answers.