The first warm rains of the year got the tigers moving a few nights ago in northern Illinois, here's one of the ones
I found crossing the road.
Ambystoma tigrinum
Du Page county, Illinois
Today my friend Adam and I met up with Dino White and he took us to some vernal pools he found in Will county. Dino had
found Spotted salamanders here before, but I had never seen maculatum in northern Illinois before. Supposedly they are getting
very rare up here, but you wouldn't think that by what we found today. It started with the first log Adam rolled over.
Ambystoma maculatum
Will County, Illinois
Along with the Spotteds, we found many Blue Spotted Salamanders.
Ambystoma laterale
Heres the pool where these little gems were found.
There was another larger lake that we decided to check out too, and on the way there this little guy turned up under
a log.
Central Newt, Eft stage (Notophthalmus viridescens)
Upon arriving at the next pond, we heard a group of chorus frogs calling in the distance. Then under the first log that
was rolled, we found two more spotteds and a tiger salamander.
Ambystoma maculatum
While photographing these last two spotteds, I noticed another eft sitting right in front of me, out in the open! Dino
and I thought that was pretty strange.
Habitat
All in all, it was an excellent day for northern Illinois, and Dino really showed us a great time. Thank you very much
Dino!
