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check this out
got a huge wood frog egg mass here
and around the edge we got all these eastern newt's
totally destroying it they are eating all the eggs all the developing little wood frogs
over here
early spring can sometimes be difficult time for those who enjoy the outdoors
we're in between hunting and fishing seasons right now many reptiles
and amphibians are still inactive
on the first few warm sunny days i like to get out and try and shake the cabin fever
when i get out i usually look for a lot of amphibians
one of the creatures i find regularlyon these warm sunny days are one of these
small eastern newt's
the eastern newt tends to be very small
olive green in color and has red spots on its side
when its young
they're usually bright orange and spend most of their time on the land
when they mature into adults they return to the water
I'm going to let this eastern newt go
what we are really looking looking for in the spring
is what left these eggs behind
the spotted salamander
now to find a spotted salamander we've got to catch them when they wanna move
most of the time they're underground a lot of time throughout the summer they're
safe in their subterranean burrows where they can stay moist and they won't dry out
in the heat of the summer
so we've got a catch them on their way to their breeding pools
on a nice rainy night in the early spring
check it out
it's a hellgrammite
these guys are kind of nasty
they'll bite you if you give 'em a chance
with these big black jaws
check those out, this little guy
is actually a larva
of the dobson fly
with its wings
would probably extend about that long
these guys are cool a lot of guys use these as fishing bait but
we'll just put him back int the water
there you go pal
uh... check out the little bullfrog hanging out down there
we see a lot of these guys out here in the swamp night thing is when you shine a
bright light at them it kind of blinds and it makes it freeze
just check them out briefly I don't like to blind them too much
all right now we're gonna walk down the road between the forest and the swamp to
see if we can find any of the amphibians crossing
to get into the swamp tonight
all right
now this never gets old to me
i've seen lots of the spotted salamanders
they're so cool they're very large
see right next to my hand just how big this guy is I don't handle them a lot
just because they do rely on that mucous membrane to breath
I don't want to dry them out with my hands
but these guys are one of my favorite things
to see in the spring and probably one of the main reasons why i'll come out on a
rainy night
just check out some of the amphibians
now spotted salamanders are not the only thing moving during a rain
in the spring
the little bullfrogs and many other species that live in the area
can also be found
on rainy nights
lets get him
he's a little guy
there he goes
have a better look at it
it's a northern spring peeper
a very small species of tree frog
he is very tiny
they're just starting to call here now
so we're hoping in the next week or two
we'll have a full on peeper chorus
look how small he is
theres another one!
normally if we were out on a road that saw a lot of heavy traffic
i would hurry this guy along
to the other side but
we're on a road that sees virtually no traffic at all
i think this guy's pretty safe just where he is
OH GOD!
they are everywhere tonight aren't they check this one out
look at it's spots
a whole bunch a little ones here
these guys are cool the patterns are all so variable
I've even seen some that don't even have spots maybe we'll see some of those
tonight too
check this one out look at his spots
these are big spots!
your a handsome devil
could I be wrong?
this one looks like it's a girl actually
she's scared of me
there she goes
all right well
i hope you enjoyed our video for
early spring herping be sure to check out
www.camochairproductions.com
for more herping
hunting and fishing videos
thanks for watching