The opacum are coming!

It’s about to start!  The opacums are coming.  Around this time of year the marbled salamanders (Ambystoma opacum) are poised to move.  They are out in the woods just waiting for this year’s breeding season.  Unlike most pond-breeding salamanders, marbled sallies move to the “wetland” while it is still dry.  They will mate on rainy nights and females will lay a clutch of eggs and then stay with those eggs until the wetland fills for the season.  Once it fills the eggs will hatch and start their journey toward metamorphosis.  Marbled salamanders aren’t as adept in water as many other species so once the pond starts filling the females will head back to the woods.  It has been hot and dry here all month and only a handful of marbled sals have made their way to Rainbow Bay, but rain is in the forecast!  Probably not tonight, but definitely tomorrow.  That means on Monday morning there could be hundreds or thousands of salamanders in the pitfall traps along the drift fence.  Literally a single 5 gallon bucket can have more than 300 salamanders.  It’s a sight to behold.  It blows my mind each time I see it happen because you can walk all around the woods surrounding the bay and never see a salamander---but they are there---and if you go out on a rainy night in the right time of year you can see a wonderful spectacle.  It will mean some early mornings coming my way but I can’t wait.