Spotted salamander
photos by Amanda Nimke

The rains of April have stirred the evolutionary magic of the vernal ponds of southeastern Michigan into full swing. That is nature's way! In the words of wildlife-wise Amanda, "Every spring on warm, wet nights, salamanders wake from their winter slumber and return to the same vernal pond year after year for mating. The males lay little spermatorfores in the water that look like pieces of rice, and then the females do their wiggle dance around them to fertilize their eggs!!"

Here in northern Oakland County, as many humans cursed the rains and Kearsley Creek churned out of her banks and swirled over fields, and muddy roads swallow small cars, salamanders emerge from under the logs in nearby woodlands where they had remained all winter in near suspended animation … marching over leaves and twigs to reach the swallow seasonal ponds - their vernal (spring) ponds to mate.

And this season they were not alone … the timing was perfect for tiny spring peepers to hop over to the salamanders passion ponds and secluded wetlands in order to assure the continuation of their species, and fill the night air with delicate jingling bells like song.