Hey, what are you doing awake? Aren’t you supposed to be hibernating?
It was so warm that I decided to come out and see if it was spring yet.
Weren’t you just out last month during a warm spell?
Yes, but this mating business is so important to us salamanders that I can’t let spring pass me by. I have to check out every possibility.
Where do you usually spend your winters?
We yellow-spotted salamanders ideally hibernate about six inches underground. However, I’ve just been buried beneath some leaves that are heaped on a concrete floor. Maybe that’s why I keep waking up. I need to find some deeper digs.
Once you really know for sure that it’s spring, where will you go?
In very early spring, we salamanders return to pools of water to mate. Females will lay up to a couple hundred eggs. Temporary vernal pools created by melting snow and spring rains are our favorite places because they aren’t home to the predators found in more established watering holes. We have to get there quickly so that the eggs have a chance to go through all the phases of growth before the pools dry up.
Good luck finding deeper digs. Hope to see you again, but no sooner than spring 🙂
Waking up throughout the winter takes up a lot of the precious energy I need for mating in the spring. I’m going to find myself a spot where I won’t be disturbed. See ya!
This yellow-spotted salamander was found wandering about on January 1st. It was previously seen on December 6th.
What an amazing pattern of the blog-post! I love-love it this way!
Glad you like it Nadezhda 🙂
Like the new look!
It was nice of the salamander to share his thoughts with us!
Thanks Dawn. Yes it was very nice of him/her. Salamanders are not as shy as one would imagine.
What an informative interview with a salamander, Amy – I’d never seen one before until you wrote about them a couple of weeks ago (here). It was lovely and most amusing to get some first-person insight into his life. 🙂
Now I just hope that he (or she?) will find a deeper digs so that he can save up all his strength for the serious business of finding a mate in spring!
I hope deeper digs have been found too Reggie. It’s become a lot colder the past couple of days. I can’t imagine anything cold-blooded surviving above the ground at even a couple of degrees below freezing.
This guy is going to be in high demand on the nature talk show. His answers are very clear and informative. Ms. Doolittle doesn’t do half badly as an interviewer as well – they may want to hire you full time, but you’ll be torn as the film crew may be demanding you join them instead.
Thank you Cindy 🙂 I’m glad I was able to make the most of such a chance encounter.
Hope you got his name so you can look him up after the mating season. Would like to hear all about his family.
Scott, I’ll bet he’ll/she’ll be keeping a low profile as soon in the spring and summer. There would be more predators on the prowl then and he/she would look pretty scrumptious to a mother bird with a nest full of chicks to feed.
Does this salamander have insomnia? As long as he was awake, I’m glad you spotted him.
Pamela, this type of salamander is supposed to be nocturnal so it’s even odder to have seen one out and about during daylight hours. Maybe he/she was sleepwalking.
The world is so full of a number of things . . .
I wish he’d told you what it was like growing up in that vernal pool with a leventy-zillion brothers and sisters. I’ve always been curious about that. No wonder salamanders are fairly solitary critters later in life. Not, of course, too solitary. 🙂
Gerry, not too solitary indeed. I’ve seen quite a few of the red-backed ones in pairs under rocks. As for growing up with all those siblings… I can just imagine.
Dear Mr. or Ms. Salamander,
Congratulations on your marvellous interview with the two-legger. You are a large handsome / lovely salamander. How lucky you were to find a two-legger who spoke salamander and was able to bring your words and the lovely photos to us.
Perhaps I’ll see you or your off spring in the spring.
Now go to bed.
‘night.
Sybil, I’ll have to lend you my copy of the Rosetta Stone salamander language-learning program so that you’re prepared for any close encounters you might have in the future 😉
Great read and photos