Stockbridge/Lee, MA

It's been a crazy week in Boston. I did manage to escape the madness of it all for two days and get out to western Mass where I teamed up with the principal investigator for this project and visited a whole lot of survey sites. Most of the sites were in very remote areas and we had to hike some pretty difficult terrain in order to reach our destinations.

We had a ton of success and documented breeding activity of the Jefferson salamander at 12 our of 18 vernal pool sites that we visited in a part of the state that previously had only a few old records of Jefferson salamanders crossing road where someone happened to snap a picture and submit a rare species record at some point in the past 20 years. Here are the highlights in photos.

Jefferson salamander

old logging sled left in the woods

Jefferson salamander eggs

Jefferson Salamanders

looking for salamander eggs in the rain

Jefferson salamander on ice in a partially frozen vernal pool 

spermatophores

red backed salamander

Descending mountains

(yellow) spotted salamander eggs under water

Jefferson salamander eggs under water

Jefferson salamander eggs under water

wood frog amplexus. can you see both pair? 

spotted salamander

Jefferson salamander

Some of these pools are under heavy tree canopy and remain frozen while most of the other ponds in the area have been fully thawed for weeks. 

Jefferson salamander eggs

wood frog

I could barely keep up... 

Wood frog egg mass raft. about 200 frogs lay there eggs communally, typically they find the warmest spot in the pond so the eggs hatch and develop as early as possible.

red spotted newt