The 2018 herping season started in the woods behind my house on a warm and wet January night. The first herp of the year was this Green Frog tadpole.

Obligatory Eastern Red-backed Salamander

Obligatory Northern Two-lined Salamander

From a different night, but still from the woods out back. Northern Dusky Salamander. I wish I could turn these up more often! They are the most seclusive of the salamanders I have in the creek.

On February 10th, we had a major rain system push through with temps hovering around 50 degrees, making conditions perfect for road cruising. I went with some friends and road cruised Southern Maryland on a stretch of road that we saw only three cars all night. It was a superb night, as we turned up 120+ Spotted Salamanders, 20 or so Four-toed Salamaners, about 10 Marbled Salamanders, among others. We had to cease stopping for Spotteds as there were so many!
Southern Leopard Frog


Spotted Salamander

Large male ready to breed (note the swollen cloaca)

Marbled Salamander

Spotted with an aberrant pattern (few spots)

Marbled with an aberrant pattern (no crossbars)

Another neat Spotted

All three together!

Female Wood Frog

Another

And another

More Spotteds







Young Spotted

Many Spring Peepers were on the road...had to swerve to dodge some!


Before this night, I had only ever seen one Four-toed Salamander. It was great seeing them again!






They have the best ventral patterns out there!

Marbled with light patterning

Grab bag






Random Devil Crayfish

This was one of the most unexpected finds of the night. This is an adult Red-spotted Newt transitioning from its terrestrial stage to its aquatic stage. It wasn't much larger than an eft!

This past weekend, I went out to western Fairfax County to check out some wetlands and a vernal pool during the rain. It did not disappoint! Wood Frogs were still calling, and the Peepers were out in full force.

I was surprised to find these American Toad eggs! Seems early for them. I bet they were breeding last week when temps were near 80 degrees!


Wood Frog eggs


Peeper

I found a few Spotted Salamanders swimming around in a HUGE vernal pool that extended for hundreds of feet.




I also saw a couple of Newts swimming around

Last week, I went to check the woods out back for Wood Frog activity. To my surprise, I found more than four hundred using a single vernal pool deep in the woods! This pool was dry last year due to a drought, but the wet month we've had more than filled it up. I never imagined that we had this many Wood Frogs in this forest!
I divided this photo into quadrants and counted the individual eye shines. Approximately 420, with most being males.

The vernal pool during daytime

Odd pattern on this male Wood Frog - it's white lip isn't very white!

Male Wood Frog in a creek

Female arriving at the vernal pool

Calling males


Every female in the pool itself was in amplexus. Poor ladies must have been jumped the moment they got there.


Egg Masses a few days after the breeding explosion




To wrap things up, I went herping during lunch on the one day it got up to near 80 degrees in Washington, D.C. I work at the Pentagon and found these turtles just a few minutes from the building!
Northern Red-bellied Cooter

Another

Red-Eared Slider

That's all for now! I still hope to find some Spotted Salamander egg masses and some Marbled Salamander larvae before things warm up too much. And maybe I might still have a shot at Jefferson's Salamanders - we'll see. I expect things will slow down a bit, especially if I end up moving again this summer. I hope you enjoyed my post!