WildNewJersey.tv's David Wheeler joined wildlife biologist Mike McGraw and arborist Scott Quitel this week to look for salamanders in the Dismal Swamp Conservation Area.  They were able to find quite a few Red-Backed Salamanders, including a gravid (pregnant) female, as well as numerous other wildlife signs from species such as raccoon, white-tailed deer, and cottontail rabbit.

Later in the afternoon, Dana Patterson, Jill Weislo, Angela Gorzycka, and Shannon Storey from Edison Wetlands joined in to search for amphibians in vernal pools.  At first they had no luck in the shallow water, but after venturing into some of the deeper parts of the pool thousands of Wood Frog eggs were discovered.

These eggs are held together in masses that can easily consist of up to 1,500 individual eggs.  The newer masses were held tightly together, but in other masses we could already see some of the tadpoles swimming around their old egg sac.  After taking a few photos, Mike suggested that everyone tread extremely carefully near the vernal pool to reduce any impact we could have on such a fragile ecosystem.  Stay tuned for similar upcoming Wild New Jersey Exclusives as we follow the frogs on their miraculous journey, from laying the eggs, to hatching, to leaving the vernal pools as growing young frogs.