While out looking for amphibians I flipped over a log next to the trail. To my surprise this blue-spotted salamander and green frog were right next to each other under the log! This was the first blue-spotted salamander that I've found, and was very exciting. 

Here's another photo of a Red-Backed Salamander that I found during my ecology class lab! These salamanders are very small, but are so abundant that their biomass outweighs the biomass of many other species in the area, including deer! We found 60 Red-Backed Salamanders during our lab. 

For our last ecology lab of the semester, my class went to Higley Flow State Park to look for salamanders! This is one of 60 Red Backed Salamanders that we found by looking under logs and bark. 

A baby dusky salamander, three red-backed salamanders (2 shown), one frog (possibly wood), and wood frog eggs were spotted in St. Lawrence County between the hours of 1-4 on a sunny day in April!  All herps were found along/near vernal pools!  Red-backed salamanders seemed to be bountiful.  This is in addition to the four photos I posted last week as encounters!

Another Herpetology lab find in Glenmeal State Forest -- spotted salamander eggs in a vernal pool. All of these eggs were laid by a single salamander -- they were just the size of the black dots you can see in the picture. Their jelly-like coating then absorbed water and expanded to nearly the size of my hand, in order to protect the eggs and keep them hydrated.

The Herpetology class went exploring in Glenmeal State Forest for lab today, and we found a wide variety of salamanders, frogs, and egg masses. Here's an eastern red-backed salamander (Plethodon cinereus) who was under a mossy log near an intermittent stream. There were actually two red-backs under the same log, within an inch of each other, which is surprising given that this species is usually territorial.

Here are a few photos that were recently posted on NUN's instagram and facebook to highlight Big Night for New York's Herps!

Click through to learn more!

During the Herpetology class's lab period, I spotted two-redbacked salamanders under the same log, one red-backed salamander 5 m from those two, one leadback salamander under a different log, and one red spotted newt under a log.  The class collectively heard spring peepers and caught this wood frog in a minnow trap! This all occurred between 1-4 on a rainy and relatively cold, spring day and all herps were found along the Kip Trail near St. Lawrence University.  Here are some photos to help!

More than 25 students and community members came out to the St. Lawrence Sustainability Site on Saturday Sep. 30th to spend the afternoon discovering the various flora, fauna and fungi present on the 33.5 acre farm. The afternoon's back-to-back naturalist walks included a wild edible plant walk with Paul Hetzler (Cornell Cooperative Extension), a fungi expedition with Claire Burkum (SLU), a hunt for reptiles and amphibians (herps) with Tom Langen (Clarkson), and a bird walk with ornithologist Susan Wilson (SLU).

This even started at 2pm and went until ~6pm. Each walk had a specific topic and had presenters from either St Lawrence, Clarkson or the Cornell Cooperative Extension. The topics included edible/medicinal plants, fungi, herpatology and ornithology (birding). It was very informational and really fun. During our bird walk we got to see a young bald eagle and a large amount of ravens. The fact that this event was free makes the experience even better.