A friend and I knew it should be a perfect night for salamanders -- warm and rainy all day. Sure enough, a vernal pond that hadn't been there when my friend looked just four days before was now well formed and filled with spotted salamanders and wood frogs; spring peepers and silvery salamanders were also present in fair number.
Vernal pool in the woods filled with spotted salamanders, but large numbers of wood frogs there too, often in their zeal grabbing hold of salamanders that were swimming by.
Present at a vernal pool a friend and I had gone to to look for spotted salamanders. The silvery salamanders were not in as great a number but present once you started searching for them. There is a small chance these are smallmouth salamanders-- I wasn't totally up on the differences when I was there and wish I had counted the costal grooves in person rather than trying to do it from the photos. Other opinions? There ARE silvery salamanders at this location -- it is the only location they are known from in Illinios. Confirmation on ID anyone?
Did not see many but they were clearly present by their calls. They did not seem to be in as great a number as the wood frogs or spotted salamanders at this location or in as great a number as they were at a nearby less wooded vernal pool (see earlier observation).
