Combining original Turtle Journal footage with material from Yale University in 1920, the video clip above documents the development phases of spotted salamander eggs. Still images below were taken within the last 24 hours and show the current state of salamander larvae development on the SouthCoast of Massachusetts as of April 22nd. A few of the larvae were spotted free-swimming in vernal pools adjacent to an abandoned cranberry bog in Marion.
 Spotted Salamander Egg Mass in SouthCoast Vernal Pool
Spotted Salamander in Late March Mating Aggregation
The (yellow) spotted salamander pictured above was discovered by the Turtle Journal team in a mating aggregation during a nighttime storm in late March.
Close Up of Spotted Salamander Eggs Shortly after Deposition
These mating aggregations became filled with floating, slightly submerged, jello-like sacs the size of bulging Italian egg plants, each of which might contain a hundred or more individual eggs. The photograph above was taken in the dark of night, which accounts for its lack of sharpness, but illustrates what individual eggs resemble shortly after deposition.
Spotted Salamander Egg Sac Nearly Three Weeks Later
Now, we are nearly three weeks after spring rains and the mating aggregation. The egg sacs are maturing as are the eggs within them.
Close Up of Maturing Spotted Salamander Eggs
This close-up photograph taken today, April 17th, shows the changes that have occurred with the eggs since deposition and fertilization in late March.
Spotted Salamander from March Mating Aggregation
Perhaps, with a little luck, we’ll soon see the next generation of spotted salamanders, some of which may become like this splendid specimen we encountered in the dark, spring rains of late March.
Pair of Mute Swans (Cygnus olor) in Marion’s Spragues Cove
A pair of mute swans (Cygnus olor) have taken possession of the Spragues Cove pools and have built a nest on an artificial island separating the second and third pools.
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Mute Swan Leaves Nest on Artificial Island
As we explored the cove and its pools on Saturday, we spotted one of the swans taking a break from sitting on the nest.Â
Mute Swan Nest in Spragues CoveÂ
We carefully investigated the nest while the swans foraged out of sight, careful not to contaminate the nest with human touch and scent.Â
Mute Swan Egg with Quarter for Sizing
Who needs an Easter bunny when you have a pair of swans to provide an oversized egg for the basket. Unfortunately, we suspected the swans would not have accepted the egg back into the nest with chartreuse coloring. So, we carefully disguised our presence before the pair returned to incubate the nest. We watched closely to ensure that the swans accepted the egg and we returned again today, Sunday, to check again. The pair continue to take turns incubating the egg. Hopefully soon Turtle Journal will be able to document the newest member of the swan family for our readers.
Mating Pair of Spring Peepers (Pseudacris crucifer)Â
Step right up, ladies and gentlemen. Push forward, kiddies; press your nose flat against the dazzling, fantasmagorical glass window. Never before in the history of humankind has a virtual Peep Show offered such eye-popping, extra-ordinary sights and ear-splitting, explosive sounds right here in the Turtle Journal Traveling Lightwave Carnival, a Nature extravaganza so big it has tent flap, magic carpet openings built into every single digital computer and high speed handheld device on Planet Earth.
NO EXCEPTIONS … YOU MUST BE THIS TALL TO ENTER
Be warned and beware! Once you enter the mysterical world of Turtle Journal, there’s no way out until you pass through the mouth of the Enormous Egress at the other end of the posting.
Spring Peeper Pair from Outer Cape Cod Vernal Pool
Turtle Journal hiked a conservation trail in South Wellfleet Friday to search a series of vernal pools and swampy ponds where we have always found the very loudest and most cacophonous springtime serenades. Even in bright sunshine, with temperatures dipping back into the 40s, only a few, isolated peepers screeched for amorous attention. Luckily for us, Sue Wieber Nourse spotted a fast moving critter zigzagging through the mucky leaf matter at the bottom of a quickly evaporaping vernal pool. Lo and behold, we discovered a mating pair of secretive spring peepers (Pseudacris crucifer).
Spring Peeper Pair — Not Even a Handful
Truth to tell, and we always try to tell the truth unless it gets in the way of a good story; we didn’t notice the pairing until we examined it up close and personal. This twosome had so closely embraced that they moved like one with the female providing all the locomotive power as illustrated in the following video clip.
Spring Peeper Mating Pair on Outer Cape Cod
Notice how tightly the two peepers are bound together and how powerfully the female springs forward with the male clinging to her back for dear life.Â
Female Spring Peeper
Spring Peepers are small “chorus” frogs whose mating calls we recognize each March as the beginning of spring serenade in wetlands across the Great White North.  They are brown colored with a darker “X” on their back (dorsal side) which yields the Latin species name crucifer (cross bearer).
Spring Peepers in Conubial Bliss
Females are a bit larger than the males as illustrated in our pair pictured above. Unsurprisingly, it is the male of the species that makes the loud, raucous mating calls that we recognize as the peeper chorus each spring. “Won’t someone love me?” they screech at the top of their lungs.
Well, I guess it depends on your point of view. From our viewpoint, these spotted salamanders are really cool critters. So secretive in these parts that you rarely find them except during their annual spring norturnal mating orgy in the absolute worst of weather conditions, the improbabilty of encountering spotted salamanders definitely enhances the value of the moment. With the series of snapshots in this posting, we present a portrait of a spotted salamander. Note that each picture is hyperlinked to a larger sized image when clicked.
Spotted Salamander Body
Quite a handsome specimen. Check out the four digits on the front limbs and five on the back. Also, note the two parallel rows of yellow spots along the length of the salamander’s body.
Spotted Salamander
A real cutey as this critter mugs for the camera. Every couple of minutes, the salamander slurps its tongue in and out faster than the photographer can click the camera.
Spotted Salamander Profile
Augmenting the exquisite yellow dots painted in a parallel series along its dorsal surface, these salamanders have constellations of smaller blue-gray spots along their sides, under their chins and on their ventral surfaces.
A Face That Only a Mother and Turtle Journal Could Love
We don’t know about this salamander’s mother, but we do know that Turtle Journal thinks this critter has quite a compelling portrait.
