March 20, 1986 - Salamanders in the RainPage 16A The Suffolk Times March. 20, 19$6
Salamanders in the Rain
By PAUL STOUTENBURGH
I've just returned from walking out
back to feed the cows. The early morn-
ing sun was coming up over the trees
to the south, warming the earth and
melting the frost that earlier coated the
back pasture. In 15 or 20 minutes it,
too, would have completed its early
morning task.
Individual male redwings were
perched high in the young black cher-
ries, catching the first rays of sun and
proclaiming their territory for the
feverish season ahead. Spring is not too
far away.
One of the earliest signs that winter's
back has been broken -- and one few
people ever witness -- is the appearance
of salamanders in the ponds tucked
away throughout our island. The reason
I say tucked away is that the ones on
the beaten path often have been de-
spoiled by innocent people putting in
alien varieties of fish that become pre-
dators on the native species.
Far too often the family tires of
goldfish that were bought some time
ago for Johnny and are now in the way.
Being soft - hearted folks, they don't
want to destroy them. So they look for
a logical place to dump them. The pond
just off the road fulfills that role.
Goldfish usually adapt very well to al-
most any pond situation, being scaven-
gers in their natural habitat. They do
very well when dumped. Here is where
the native species loses out. The eggs
and young are soon depleted, leaving
no young to carry on. The predominant
species soon takes over and we have a
pond with nothing but goldfish.
Some friends of ours from the west
end called a few weeks ago inviting us
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Focus on
Nature
to travel with them on a salamandering
trip to some of the out -of -the -way ponds
of Manorville. It is not often we get an
opportunity to travel with some of "the
best" in the field. So, naturally, we said,
"Just name the place, date and time."
Related to Frogs
Salamanders are lizard -like crea-
tures, cold blooded and usually quite
small. Those of us who roam the woods
know that salamanders can be found
under overturned logs in wet areas.
Salamanders are related to frogs and
toads and therefore usually breed in the
same general places. They have moist,
scaleless skin and come in a variety of
colors and designs. Even before the ice
is out of the ponds, salamanders leave
their winter burrows upland and head
for the ponds to mate and lay their jelly-
like mass of eggs. It's at this time you
can see these secretive fellows best. We
were going to be looking for the rare
tiger salamander.
So our friends set the date of March
14 at 8 p.m. in Manorville. Does that
date strike a familiar note? It was the
night we had torrential downpours.
Hail, thunder and lightning added to
our trip as we headed for Manorville.
The roads were awash. Actually, I was
told that rain makes it easier for the
salamanders to travel to the ponds, for
their skin must not dry out when ex-
posed to the air.
We met our small convoy of cars in a
parking lot and proceeded to the first
pond, just off the road in a development.
Little hope was held out for this one but
our leader wanted to check it neverthe-
less. It was a pond in despair. An old
baby carriage, part of a football uni-
form, and hundreds of bottles and cans
were scattered about what was once a
beautiful wooded pond. How man can
destroy so easily and with so little
thought is hard for me to comprehend.
As we walked back to the cars water
poured from the tarred road above. This
would soon be nothing but a sump to
pour man's pollution in.
Photo by Paul Stoutenburgh
SPRING EGG MASS -- Salamanders, frogs and toads come to our
ponds each spring to lay their egg masses. The loss of such wet areas
eliminates these interesting creatures from our world.
When we reached the second pond I
had no idea where we were -- we had
walked a half mile through rain and
puddled waters to reach it. Here Bar-
bara went in over the top of her boots
in one of the deepest spots. From then
on, we could always tell where she was.
Her boots squished with every step.
The pond was way off the beaten path
in a low kettle hole surrounded by tall
trees. The trees must have kept the cold
in; the pond was still iced.
We must have looked a sorry sight
walking back to our cars in the rain,
our flashlights leading the way. Al-
though the ice had spoiled our try at
this pond, we were told that salaman-
ders often have been found under the
ice.
Easier on TV
Back in the steamed -up car, we won-
dered if we might have been better off
at home watching "Nature" on TV. So
far, we had little to show for our efforts.
But our persistence was to pay off at
our third stop, where we not only found
one large pond but a group of smaller
ponds in back. We all spread out, look-
ing for that elusive salamander. I re-
member once looking up and seeing all
the little dots of light that circled the
pond. Then there was a shout from
across the water, "I've got one!" and in
no time all the little dots converged on
one spot.
There in the palm of the beholder's
hand was a tiger salamander. We had
found what we had come for. It was six
to seven inches long with blotched olive -
tan coloring highlighting its earthy
brownish -black body.
The tiger salamander is one of the
largest species of salamanders on Long
Island. As I looked at it in the rain, it
reminded me of some prehistoric crea-
ture that had stepped out of hiding for
these modern -day people to glimpse.
It had four toes in front and five in
back. How odd. This was a female, fat
with eggs. Soon she'd be laying them
in the cold waters of the pond. The jelly-
like mass would stay until the embryos
warmed up and swam free like little
polywogs. Slowly they lose their gills,
freeing them from the pond, and they
once more return to the uplands to bur-
row in the damp ground searching for
food.
Wet and tired, we left the pond. We'd
experienced one of the rare glimpses
into the little -known world of the sala-
mander. It told us once again that our
world is studded with wonders that
make us all humble in its magnitude.
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