Salamander Snippets

I've recently had several people send me photos of salamanders they've come across, wondering what kind they were. Some are quite easy to tell, but others not so much. What are salamanders doing out so late in the season, you ask? Well it has been warmer than usual, and in reality, salamanders can tolerate quite cold temperatures, even though they are cold-blooded. In fact in the spring, they will emerge from their over-wintering sites and be found mating in woodland pools even while there is still snow on the ground and ice on the water!

One of the most easily identified salamanders in southwestern Ontario is the aptly named Spotted Salamander (Ambystoma maculatum). It is a small type of salamander, but the bright yellow spots are unmistakable.

Another one that is quite easily identified and also small, is the Red-backed Salamander (Plethodon cinereus).

A colour variation of the Red-backed is known as the 'Lead-backed' Salamander, as the back is more grayish than reddish in colour.

Another spotted type of salamander fairly common in southwestern Ontario is the Blue-spotted Salamander (Ambystoma laterale). It is also a small salamander normally ranging between 10-14 cm as an adult. The amount of blue spotting can vary a bit, as the following two images show.

This next image shows both of the latter two species, which I found under the same piece of woody material on the ground.

There are other salamander species that occur, or historically occurred, in southern Ontario but are quite rare. These include species such as Small-mouthed Salamander (Ambystoma texanum) found only in some areas of Pelee Island and Tiger Salamander (Ambystoma tigrinum) which is a much larger salamander that historically occurred in portions of Essex County. I have never seen a Tiger, unfortunately. Others are restricted to the Niagara Gorge such as the Allegheny Mountain Dusky Salamander (Desmognathus ochrophaeus) and Northern Dusky Salamander (Desmognathus fuscus) neither of which I have seen, either. Still others are more often found in eastern Ontario: Four-toed Salamander (Hemidactylium scutatum) and Northern Two-lined Salamander (Eurycea bislineata). Rounding out the line-up of Ontario salamanders are the Mudpuppy (Necturus maculosus), an aquatic species, and Central Newt (Notophthalmus viridescens louisianensis). You can read more about all of these salamanders via the Ontario Nature link provided below.

And that leads me to discussing one of the most challenging and confusing salamanders of southern Ontario: Jefferson's Salamander (Ambystoma jeffersonianum). The Jeff's is largely restricted to south central Ontario, although ongoing research has had it turn up slightly beyond that area. It is a large salamander, with adults reaching 18-20 cm in total length. It is dark bluish black, with a few lighter whitish-bluish flecks, but not as large or as brightly marked as the Blue-spotted Salamander. What makes things especially challenging in identifying these salamanders in the field is a result of the unusual reproductive process and ultimate genetics of these two species. They hybridize, and there is a broad zone of hybridization. One can really only tell what kind one is by doing DNA analysis, which for these salamanders requires snipping a small tip of the tail, running it through a blender of sorts, and then examining the DNA. There are many variations of the genetic make-up of these hybrids, as there are crosses and back-crosses through many generations. It is by far one of the most bizarre and complicated reproductive systems of any organism, which is still puzzling biologists and researchers. For more information you can check out this link.

In the immediate Rondeau area, there are no known pure Jefferson's Salamanders. However there are individuals that have some Jefferson's genes, and are larger than typical Blue-spotted Salamanders. A few years ago there was some sampling of salamanders in the park. There is a tremendous amount of habitat for salamanders with dozens of kilometres of linear slough habitat interspersed with ridges of woodland habitat. Some of the individuals caught were quite large. This one in the next photo is almost 15 cm, certainly long for a Blue-spotted.

It doesn't have the typical well defined and numerous bluish-white markings that a typical Blue-spotted would have, especially on the body. This one, although it has characteristics of Jefferson's, turned out to be predominantly a Blue-spotted hybrid.

Salamanders are most often found under objects on the forest floor when they are not under ground. Even though they are seldom seen, they are a valuable part of the forest ecosystem, both as predators of worms and grubs as well as being food themselves for larger predators.

Salamanders are just one part of the reptiles and amphibian group known as herptiles. There is an ongoing effort to document the reptiles and amphibians of Ontario through the Ontario Reptile and Amphibian Atlas, coordinated by Ontario Nature. For more information on this worthwhile project, and to contribute sightings if you can, please visit this link.

Salamanders and sun on Saturday

Saturday dawned as a beautiful day.....sunshine, mild temperatures and very little wind. I met two colleagues at Rondeau just after daybreak to check salamander traps again. The first two excursions over the previous ten days resulted in zero salamanders....would the third time be the charm? We went around the pond, checking the twelve traps that had been placed the night before, when the pond was teeming with amphibian activity, albeit mostly Wood Frogs. The first 10 traps were empty. Would this be a total bust? But trap number 11 had one...finally! And of the three traps placed in a nearby slough that had also looked promising the previous evening, one trap held another of these amphibians!

This individual is a salamander of the Jefferson's/Blue-spotted complex. Only DNA analysis will determine if it is one, or the other, or likely a hybrid, which is what most of them are. In general appearance, however, the lack of bright blue spots on the upper part of the body, and the smaller gray/blue spots on the lower part of the body and tail, along with the fairly good size of this critter (it measured about 14.5 cm) leads one to believe that it has at least some Jefferson's genes in it.

After taking the requisite measurements, etc., the salamander was released into the water from which it came.....and quickly swam away burying itself under the leafy detritus on the bottom.

With that part of the day getting off to a good start, I headed for Spicebush Trail, hoping for more opportunities to photograph Rusty Blackbirds. I had seen, and photographed, several there a couple of days ago. The very wet woods habitat especially along the western side of the trail is ideal for this declining species. I heard some this time, but they were much farther off the trail, so I didn't get to photograph them. The trail was actually fairly quiet in spite of the very calm conditions allowing sound to travel. Pileated Woodpeckers were calling and giving their distinctive drum-roll. A couple of pair of Wood Ducks flushed up from the slough. American Robins sang in the sunny warmth.

A trip along Lakeshore Road to the Visitor Centre was quiet, although numerous Dark-eyed Juncos and other sparrow type birds darted across the road. I checked the Visitor Centre feeders and found....nothing! Well, no birds anyway. The reason? A new pond is being put in, and workers were busily digging the hole in which to place the pre-formed pond, carefully back-filling around the edges with sand. The VC pond had been ravaged over the past little while by one or more muskrats digging through the soft liner, so hopefully this one will last a lot longer and attract a whole bunch of birds and frogs. Time will tell, but it looks promising.

The north end of the park with its semi-open habitats is often good for birds. I had heard that Jim and Blake had a Palm Warbler in the picnic area earlier in the day. Blake has a photo of it on his blog. That would have been my first spring warbler of the season, so I was anxious to find it as well. I looked through lots of Dark-eyed Juncos, a few American Tree Sparrows and others but did not see it. The steady (by this time) southerly wind may have caused it to move elsewhere. I did see several Field Sparrows and Chipping Sparrows, but no warbler of any kind. Chipping Sparrows have arrived in larger numbers in the last day or two. I noted at least a couple of dozen over the course of the day.

A nearby much-branched maple tree proved to be attractive to Brown Creepers. This species is quite numerous these days. Birders with better hearing than I have hear their high pitched song fairly readily....I am left hoping to see them, and this day was very good for seeing them. I must have encountered well over a dozen at various places, including this maple tree. They are a challenge to photograph, as they are constantly on the move, going around the trunk much faster than I can, and are constantly being obscured by branches. They are not a brightly coloured bird in the first place, so one has to get a good close-up for them to stand out.

Brown Creepers are generally a more northern species, passing through southern Ontario in decent  numbers but very few remain to nest. I have only found two nests at Rondeau, the first one in the early 1980s during the first Ontario Breeding Bird Atlas, which are the only two records for the park.

The campground is often good for birding as well, at least until it gets filled up with campers. There were lots of Brown Creepers, the usual Red-bellied Woodpecker or two, Common Grackles, Red-winged Blackbirds and others. I was hoping to find Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Eastern Bluebird or a warbler of some type but was not successful. Several Northern Flickers were poking in the sandy ground for ants.

On this day, I decided to check the Ridgetown Sewage Lagoon before returning home. The last couple of times I had been there, it was still mostly ice-covered, with only a few Canada Geese on the surrounding berms. I expected the ice to be gone, so was not surprised when I found the open water hosting many ducks: Northern Shoveler, American Wigeon, Blue-winged Teal, Green-winged Teal, Bufflehead, Ring-necked Duck, Red-breasted Merganser, Hooded Merganser and the usual Mallards and Canada Geese. There were a few Ring-billed and Bonaparte's Gulls present as well, with most of the latter species showing fairly well developed black hoods. The highlight of the lagoon visit was a pair of Sandhill Cranes walking along the westerly berm. There isn't what I would call suitable nesting habitat anywhere close by, so this pair may have just been passing through.