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.

Salamander Saturday....well that was the intention......

Today started off looking for salamanders! A former co-worker of mine had set some traps out in sloughs late Friday and we met at 0700h to start checking them. Salamanders normally emerge from their underground sites even when there is still ice on the sloughs, and scamper to the water to meet others of their kind. They have a complicated reproduction strategy which I won't go into here. But our intent was to sample some of the salamanders to see if the rare Jefferson's Salamander could be found among them.

It was cold and windy, and some salamanders had been out recently, as we could see some eggs in the water. One salamander even laid some eggs on the outside of one of the traps. I guess now we now know what they think of the traps!

Our traps were empty, at least of salamanders. However we did catch some water boatmen, a very large type of aquatic beetle, and at least a dozen tadpoles.

I'm not sure exactly what kind of frog this will become, but the most abundant frogs in these sloughs where we caught the 'poles are Wood Frog and Spring Peeper. I'm going with Wood Frog here, but I can't be totally certain. (Update: this is more likely a Green Frog. Green Frogs aren't as common in this particular site at Rondeau as the other two species I've mentioned, but the fact that it is a tadpole that has overwintered makes Green Frog more likely than Wood. The latter species typically transforms in the season the eggs were laid. Thanks, Erin for the link: http://www.trentu.ca/biology/berrill/IdentificationTable.htm. Although the images in this link do not conclusively match the photo of the tadpoles we found, the stage of growth is more of an indicator. A useful book reference is Amphibians and Reptiles of the Great Lakes Region, by J. H. Harding)

We did see a couple of Eastern Phoebe along the trails where we were sampling. But when the salamander trapping part of the expedition was over, we went our separate ways, and I ended up going to the South Point Trail. It was fairly quiet, with hearing birds more difficult due to the windy conditions. I did hear a Fox Sparrow singing, and a bit later I met Blake Mann and Jim Burk and discovered that Blake had spotted two adult Little Gulls....not all that surprising given the time of year, but certainly noteworthy nonetheless.

A bit later I went up to the north end of Harrison Trail and found more Eastern Phoebes. Golden-crowned Kinglets are becoming more abundant. They are such busy little creatures, and are most often in shrubbery so that photographing them is quite a challenge. But if you take enough shots, some may turn out, as in the next photo.

Their golden crowns aren't always so obvious, but this one certainly is....one can even detect the bit of orange in the very centre of the golden part. This little fellow was either so hungry he couldn't care, or just was a very bold critter. I kept taking photos, but in short order he came much closer than the camera would focus. At one point he was about an arm's length away, so it was fun to just stand there and enjoy such an amazing close-up.

I noted a Brown Creeper along this stretch as well, but it wasn't as cooperative as the kinglet. But I was entertained by several Downy Woodpeckers who were going through some kind of territorial dispute. Here a male struts his stuff with beak straight up and tail feathers spread, to tell a nearby male that this area is off limits.

And just at the top of this same grape vine, the intruding male takes note.....perhaps.

In some of the sloughs just south of the maintenance compound were several Wood Ducks. Woodies are one of the few duck species that nest in holes in trees, such as where a large branch has broken off creating a suitable cavity. They are one of the most striking species of waterfowl, almost gaudy in some respects.

They can be nervous ducks, and do not allow a close approach. I didn't take these photos today, but quite awhile ago. The photo above was taken using a blind.

A trip to the campground is often worthwhile. I saw at least a couple of Fox Sparrows, and numerous Dark-eyed Juncos. Juncos are winter birds to some extent, as there are always a few that stay for the winter especially if there is a well-stocked feeder to take advantage of. But in the last few days, their numbers have increased tremendously.....I must have seen well over 100 today. This photo wasn't taken today, but a few days ago at a feeder.

And there is a new activity in the campground....well new for the season.....the campground opened this weekend, and someone decided to be the first ones. It looks pretty cozy, so I'm sure it isn't too much of a challenge for them.

After leaving the park, I stopped briefly at Shrewsbury, and there is lots of open water, and a good smattering of ducks. Small groups of Ruddy Ducks were here and there, including the two males shown below.

They are smallish ducks, and generally are more abundant in the mid-western pothole and wetland regions, but in recent decades have shown up at sewage lagoons in southern Ontario which, to a duck, look more or less like the pothole features they like. They are sometimes called stiff-tailed ducks, as shown in the next photo. This feature helps one identify them if the light is poor or they are a long distance away.

I did make it to Erieau. There is ice out in the lake, but virtually no ice in the bay, at least not within close viewing distance of the pier. Bonaparte's Gulls are becoming quite numerous. I was hoping to find something a little more unusual with them, but was not successful.

 Bonies in their winter plumage will have a bit of black on their head, but not much. Most of them are now beginning to get some dark colouring on their head which eventually will become a full black hood. The distinctive wing pattern doesn't change from one season to the next. The photo below shows a group of Bonies loafing on a floating ice floe. Some of them are getting quite a dark head now. The breeding birds will be around for a few weeks, but are heading a long way north into the boreal forest where they often nest in spruce trees!

In some of the flooded fields just outside of Erieau were various puddle ducks, including Green-winged Teal and Northern Shoveler.

Green-winged Teal (male)

Northern Shoveler (male) on the right

In the field just east of McGeachy Pond were two Sandhill Cranes. They were a long way off, and with the bright sun and associated heat haze, decent photos were impossible. But fortunately they got up after awhile and took a flight out towards the lake, which although was not great light, at least resulted in a better shot.