Beach Watchers and other volunteers had a wonderful opportunity to learn how to find and identify amphibians and their eggs on April 13. The training was hosted by the Northwest Watershed Institute and the Jefferson Land Trust. The training was conducted by Charlotte Corkran, co-author of Amphibians of Oregon, Washington and British Columbia.
Before we headed to the field we had a lecture and learned that amphibians include frogs, toads and salamanders who breath through their thin skins. Some salamanders don't even have lungs. They lay eggs in water or underground.
After the lecture we pulled on our boots and headed out to the Tarboo Wildlife Preserve where we saw plenty of amphibians and egg masses.
The photo at the top of this blog entry is of a cluster of eggs from the Northwestern Salamander. Normally an egg mass like this would be attached to some vegetation and you would not want to disturb it. But this egg mass was high and dry - left behind and the water in the pond receded.
Below are egg masses from the red-legged frog. These egg masses are about the same size as the Northwestern salamander egg masses but are not firm enough to hold.
The photo below is a tree frog or Pacific chorus frog. This little guy is easy to identify - look for a black stripe across the eye and tiny suction cups on the feet. They come in a variety of colors - not just bright green. These frogs are the famous ones in movies -- making the beautiful frog croaking noises. They are quite common.
Beach Watchers and friends use a small clear box to view a salamander larvae.
After lunch we walked up on a sunny south-facing slope and carefully turned over a log. We found an adult alligator lizard and a baby! (We did not conduct DNA testing to see if they were related.) It was easy to see that these creatures were not amphibians because they had scales. Snakes, turtles and lizards are reptiles. We replaced the little lizards where we found them and gently returned the log to its original position.
Many thanks to the Jefferson Land Trust and Northwest Watershed Institute for hosting this wonderful training. Happy frogging!