Recording the first time I see various creatures each spring is a habit that stretches back to my childhood. 

Spring 2025 has been slow to arrive and take hold here in southern NY and northern NJ. But I and my zoologist uncle have persisted in looking for our favorite spring sights, and have finally been rewarded with views of old favorites and some new observations.

Early Spring Amphibians

There are several vernal ponds (temporary ponds that usually dry up by mid-summer) nearby where spotted salamanders (Ambystoma maculatum), wood frogs, (Lithobates sylvatica) and spring peepers (Pseudacris crucifer) can be observed breeding on the same night. The large, vividly-colored spotted salamanders have always been our favorites, and they are the most elusive of the “Big Three” early spring amphibians, so we usually focus on finding them first.

Last year, we hit it just right, and were able to find males beneath leaves along the shore of a breeding pond, awaiting the females’ arrival (the sexes arrive in 2 separate waves). We have found breeding groups as early as March 5th in southern NY, but in some years the salamanders don't show up until the second week of April. The sight of their rounded, algae-tinged egg masses is always thrilling, no matter how often I find them. 

Amazingly, a species of green algae, Oophila amblystomatis, colonizes the spotted salamander’s globular egg masses. The algae most likely utilizes carbon dioxide and ammonia produced by the developing salamander embryos, and may in turn provide the embryos with oxygen. There is speculation that the algae may produce a growth factor that benefits the embryos, but more research is needed. Experiments have shown that egg masses with this algae hatch faster, and with a higher survivorship, than do those lacking algae. Algae growth slows markedly if the embryos are removed from the egg mass upon which it is established.

An even earlier spring breeder, the Eastern tiger salamander (Ambystoma tigrinum) is sometimes roused to breed by mid-February. Adults have even been seen to cross snow in order to reach their breeding sites, and the ponds they use often ice-over after the salamanders have arrived! In NY, these rare, 11-inch beauties are limited to the Long Island pine barrens.  

Mid-April in a NJ Swamp: Snappers, Frogs, Birds & Butterflies

By mid-April, my favorite button bush swamp in northern NJ. is usually alive with bullfrogs, painted turtles, aquatic insects and other typical warm weather residents. But even unusually cool springs, such as we have this year, bring surprises. I was recently thrilled to come upon a large male common snapping turtle (Chelodina serpentina), half-buried in the mud in very shallow water. The cool weather rendered him quite sluggish – a plus for those such as I who like to haul thee potentially dangerous behemoths out for closer inspection! Snappers are about as cold-tolerant as a turtle can be…several years ago I found one basking in Northern NJ on February 16th. 

Happily, red-winged blackbirds were out in force early this year and calling to proclaim their territories. I’ve observed these early spring harbingers to return to NJ/NY as early as February 2nd. A single mourning cloak, one of the few local butterflies that over-winters as an adult, flitted through the still largely-brown woodland that borders the swamp. At 6 PM, a light rain began to fall, and a small chorus of spring peepers started-up…assuring us, as little else can, that spring was finally here!

The Great Swamp: Amorous Snappers, Snakes & Beetles

It’s impossible for a naturalist to have a disappointing visit to New Jersey’s magnificent Great Swamp, and our April trip there this year confirmed this once again. Although perhaps a bit behind schedule, spring was now in full throttle. A pair of snapping turtles mated with abandon within 2 feet of a boardwalk, prompting several young visitors to comment on who was winning the "wrestling match. The first rainy nights in June will bring almost all the female snapping turtles in this part of the country out of the water to nest.

Garter snakes, green frogs and painted turtles were very much in evidence, and flickers issued forth with wild calls that seemed more suited to a central African rain-forest than a NJ suburb. Our prize insect find was a larval caterpillar-hunter beetle. At the nearby Raptor Trust we were treated to several birds we hadn’t seen in some time, including short-eared owls, ravens and, most surprisingly, an albino American robin.

Along the Hudson: Eels, Eagles & Nesting Herons

When last I searched the southern section of the Hudson River, back in late February, bald eagles were just beginning to refurbish their giant nests. Friends who frequent the river’s west shore north of Bear Mountain report that resident eagles are now feeding chicks, great blue herons are brooding eggs, and millions of tiny “glass eels” (juvenile American eels, Anguilla rostrata) are returning to local wetlands from their birthplace in the far-off Sargasso Sea, near Bermuda.

A late spring means that there’s still time to see some of the wonderful natural events you may have missed, and that we can look forward to the explosion of life that heralds early summer – get out there if you can, and please post your observations below!

Thanks, Enjoy, Haiden Grenier

Photos

1 Spotted Salamander

2 Spotted Salamander Egg Mass

3 Typical vernal pond used by early spring amphibians

4 Spring Peepers: female approaching calling male

5, 6 Wood Frogs in amplexus (breeding position - male will fertilize the eggs as they are released by the female)

7, 8 Common Snapping Turtle

9Common Snapping Turtle emerging from egg