Salamanders are still on the move!

Spotted salamanders are still on the move! It is always a pleasure to see them because they are so hard to find at any other time of the year. This one was found moving across the Buckeye trail in an area flooded by the recent rains. One can hear Wood frogs calling in the background, their season is winding down. I also saw a 2 Lined and Redback salamander making their way across the road at the FrogWatch site in Hinckley, OH. No Western Chorus frogs as I have heard in past years…

What the radar looked like during my visit! Lots O’ Rain!

RadarScope

Strong showers moving through with the warm front.

Wood frogs have a much shorter season then the Spring Peeper, lasting only a week or 2 depending on conditions. The visit Tuesday showed that the numbers are reduced from last Thursday, though like any frog, some are ahead and some are behind the curve. Here is a gravid female Wood frog heading to the Hinkley pond.

Female Wood frog

This gravid female was making her way to the Hinckley FrogWatch site, males are still calling strong.

Wood frog

Wood frogs have a nice range of coloration, the mask isn’t as pronounced in this reddish one compared to some of the other brown ones.

Some of the other aunuras migrating but not yet calling.

American toad

American toad’s will not be calling for a while.

Green frog

Juvenile Green frog

Here’s a male Spring Peeper that was calling along the Buckeye Trail.

2 thoughts on “Salamanders are still on the move!

    • What you are hearing is the Spring Peeper and Wood frog.

      The Wood frogs have the clucking duck like call. I hear their standard broadcast call but they also do make a release call. You can hear it on a second website I did that is centered on the frogs and toad found in our local National Park as well as Cleveland Metropark areas. Check out http://voicesinthevalley.com/woodfrog_fw.html

      The Spring Peeper is the one that is making 2 distinct calls. The first is the standard mating call peep. The second call you hear them make, is more of a stepped trill or broken, stuttered peep. This call is an encounter call which is made when one male feels that another is to close. If they don’t move out of the vicinity, the one issuing the “warning” will jump over and force the “intruder” out of the territory. Check out http://voicesinthevalley.com/peeper_fw.html for an isolated example with a sonogram to help visualize the sound.

      Great observations!

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