Salamander Eggs

So far this month we’ve had 5.8 inches of rain, with rain falling more days than not since January 1.  Temperatures have remained above average.  High temperatures in the 50’s and 60’s Fahrenheit have been the norm so far this year.  It’s been a tough year for pinpointing when salamanders began showing up in the pond for their annual breeding frenzy.  All I can say for certain is that the pond was free of salamanders three weeks ago, and now the pond is full of salamander eggs. 

The frequent rains have kept the water level high and visibility slightly clouded, but it’s easy to see the masses of egg clusters clinging to plant stems scattered across the bottom of the pond.

I found this Jefferson Salamander during a break in the rain a couple of nights ago. 

This is the most common pond breeding salamander at Blue Jay Barrens, and the only one here that produces egg masses this early in the year.  In a month or two, Spottted Salamanders will enter the pond and leave their own egg masses.

Attached to the underside of a floating plank were these eggs of the Streamside Salamander.  This species typically places its eggs on the undersides of flat rocks in small headwater streams.  In situations where they utilize temporary pools, the eggs are placed on the undersides of any available surface.  Once it became apparent that Streamside salamanders were breeding in this pond, I adorned the deepest part of the pond with a variety of items suitable for receiving eggs.    I am assuming that these items are now sporting a nice covering of Streamside Salamander eggs. I’ll find out for sure when the water clears enough for me to see though to the pond bottom.

The Streamside Salamander eggs seem to be developing rapidly.  I suspect that warmer water temperatures have increased the rate of egg development.  This may increase the chances of the salamander larvae reaching their land dwelling stage before the pond water disappears for the summer.

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.

Salamander Breeding - Phase Two

Salamander breeding season at Blue Jay Barrens is proceeding in what has become a normal pattern.  Activity begins with the arrival of Jefferson Salamanders in late December or early January and progresses in waves before ending with the arrival of Spotted Salamanders in March or April.  In advance of a forecast rainstorm, I examined the salamander eggs that had been deposited in the pond during a late December breeding event.

Jefferson Salamander eggs from that event had been attached to submerged plant stalks.  After roughly a month in the water, they were showing a characteristic opaque appearance with a greenish cast from algae growing on the outside of the masses.

Submerged clay tile and boards, intended to receive eggs from the Streamside Salamander, remained unused.  Streamside Salamanders typically enter the pond several weeks after the first of the Jeffersons.

Rain began during late evening of February 2 and continued until early the next morning.  The combination of rainy weather and warm temperatures created ideal conditions for more salamanders to move into the pond.  Unfortunately, the almost two inches of rain, most of which fell in a short period during the middle of the night, caused a lot of dirty water to runoff of the township road.  I couldn’t see into the water well enough to detect any signs of new salamander activity.

Four days later, the near shore water was practically clear and new salamander egg clusters were clearly visible. 

This most recent batch of eggs is a month behind those shown earlier.  These larvae will hatch later and be smaller than their predecessors, making it highly likely that many will end up as food items for their larger relatives.

A snow storm, leading another round of subfreezing temperatures, moved in before the water cleared enough for me to see into the deeper water where the Streamside Salamander breeding structures are located. 

The pond is now iced over and snow covered.  I’ll have to wait a bit before again assessing the salamander breeding progress.  Weather forecast for the week calls for snow followed by rain and then temperatures climbing to near 60°F by Friday, so I shouldn’t have to wait long.

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.

2015 Salamander Breeding - Third Wave

Salamanders have once again been stimulated into a flurry of egg laying activity at Blue Jay Barrens.  This has been an odd weather year that presented the salamanders with limited opportunities to safely travel overland to their breeding pools.  A light rain on January 3 brought in the first of the Jefferson Salamanders, but no egglaying activity was noticed.  A storm on February 1 gave us a third of an inch of rain and Streamside Salamanders joined Jeffersons in the pond.  Water level was still very low and only a few egg clusters were produced.  The pond quickly iced over.  Snow then covered the ice and the pond remained hidden from view for nearly a month. 

Finally, over two inches of rain fell during a 24 hour event beginning March 3 and ending March 4.   The pond filled and salamander breeding resumed.

Following the rain, fresh Jefferson Salamander eggs appeared on twigs throughout the pond.

The rain fell on soil that was already saturated by snow meltwater, so nearly the entire two inches moved overland to the creeks.  This carried numerous sticks and other debris that entered the pond and was used by the salamanders as an anchor for their egg masses.  Now these loose batches of eggs are being driven by the wind and are in danger of being left high on the shore as the pond water level slowly drops.  I make periodic circuits of the pond to relocate eggs in danger.

I found a couple of Jefferson Salamanders out of the water and heading away from the pond.  Some of these guys have been in the pond for over ten weeks, so I guess it’s about time for them to be getting back to their underground burrows.

The Streamside Salamanders also got busy laying their eggs.   Streamsides attach their eggs on the underside of submerged objects such as rocks and boards.

Instead of being contained as a group within a mass of jelly, Streamside Salamander eggs are individually attached. 

Wood Frogs also emerged with the warm rain.  They have spent the past several days producing large egg masses.

A few frogs and salamanders took advantage of the branches hanging below my floating jug and attached their eggs to this safe location.  Weather conditions made it impossible for me to float the branches prior to the arrival of the breeding amphibians, so my success in keeping the eggs safe from fluctuating water level was not nearly as successful as last year.

Many of the eggs were laid near the shoreline where a falling water level could leave them hanging in the air.  If our spring rainfall is less than normal, I’ll just have to relocate all of these egg clusters to deeper water.

2015 Salamander Breeding - Second Wave

Winter storm Linus came through this area Sunday as mostly a rain event before changing over to snow on Monday morning.  Light rain began early Sunday afternoon and continued until almost midnight.  Rainfall total was only 0.35 inches, but that was enough to bring more salamanders to the breeding pond.  In my hand is one of the many Streamside Salamanders I saw Sunday evening.

The first Streamside Salamander encountered was already in the water, making me think I may once again have missed seeing any traveling overland to the pond.

I began searching the shoreline and soon discovered this fellow.  It was traveling along the path of shallow water flowing from the seasonal spring farther up the pond bank.

In reaction to my light, it began to seek refuge beneath a patch of moss.  The base color of this species varies from brown to various shades of gray.  The markings resemble lichen colonies and are also quite variable between individuals.  I think the brown color and golden markings on this one are particularly attractive.

I pulled the salamander’s head from beneath the moss and sent it on its way.  It soon plunged into the pond and disappeared from sight.

Streamside salamanders deposit their eggs on the undersides of flat objects such as rocks.  Since the pond is devoid of such objects, I created a breeding area composed of flat rocks, clay tile, bricks, boards and concrete blocks.  I’ll see which the salamanders prefer.  Last year their eggs were laid beneath mats of moss on the pond bottom.  This worked, but several of the mats detached from the bottom and began floating about the pond where they could easily be left dry along the shoreline as the water level dropped.

Several Streamside Salamanders were checking out the artificial structure.

Nothing in this collection is going to go floating off, so any eggs left here should be safe.

Jefferson Salamanders were also active.  Several Jeffersons entered the pond a month ago, but no egg masses appeared.

I’m wondering if the early arrivals were all males.  The January rain that brought the first of the Jeffersons was of short duration and a low amount.  This was possibly not enough rain to motivate the females to move to the pond.  We went until Sunday without having another rain, so this is the first time in a month that the females had a chance to make their journey.

The Jeffersons were quite interested in one another.  There were several groupings of two or more individuals around the pond.

When the rain once again picked up, the rough surface of the water made it impossible to clearly view the underwater activity, so I headed back to the house.

On Monday morning, clusters of Jefferson Salamander egg masses were clearly visible in the pond.  I guess a couple of females did make it to the pond Sunday night.

The pond is the lowest it has ever been for salamander breeding season.  When each rainfall measures just a few tenths of an inch, the pond doesn’t fill very fast.  As long as the spring water entering the pond equals or exceeds that leaking out, the salamanders should be in no danger.  The next species to move to the breeding pond will be the Spotted Salamander.  Depending on weather, the next wave could be anytime between now and the end of April.