The Amphibian Foundation's Frog Blog

Right here in Atlanta, we have huge black-purple salamanders with bright yellow spots — the Spotted Salamander! Background Spotted Salamanders are an incredible and secretive species, and even though they live right here in Atlanta, most people have never seen one. We are right in the middle of Spotted Salamander breeding season, so now is your chance ! Spotted Salamanders ( Ambystoma maculatum ) are an ephemeral wetland breeding amphibian, meaning they breed in seasonal pools (or puddles) that do not hold water (typically) for more than a few months. Most of them (as high as 90%) breed in the same puddle they were born! Unfortunately, there are not many of these puddles left in Atlanta, and we at AF have only been able to find 2 remaining populations inside the 285 perimeter. Spotted Salamanders are incredibly sensitive to habitat alteration and require a suitable ephemeral wetland, as well as upland habitat to persist. If there is a road or other obstruction in between where...

This weekend, we embarked on the Amphibian Field Trip with this summer semester's Master Herpetologist Program, and we did really well! Especially considering that a hot summer day in Atlanta is not typically the best conditions in which to find amphibians. For the Amphibian Field Trips, we go to Clyde Shepherd Nature Preserve in Dekalb County, which is one of my favorite places to look for amphibians in metro Atlanta. It is also a repatriation site of ours for Spotted Salamanders ( Ambsytoma maculatum ) where the data suggests we have successfully reintroduced the species, which hadn't been seen on the preserve in 20 years. Unfortunately, we didn't find any on Saturday, but the summer is a terrible time to look for them. We did, however, conduct a 2 hour field survey of the property. Future Master Herpetologist, Barb (left) and Emma a Summer Intern at AF met before the field trip to conduct a 'stream clean-up of the creek at Clyde Shepherd Nature Preserve. They r...

As part of the Atlanta Science Festival, the Amphibian Foundation and Blue Heron Nature Preserve put on an Amphibian Walk at CSNP in Decatur. This is one of our favorite amphibian spots in the metro area and we weren't disappointed! It rained that morning so turnout was actually pretty light, but that made it a more intimate event — AtlSciFest Volunteers including Photographer Craig Colsky and the foundation head out and found lots and lots of amphibians. (Photos by Craig Colsky) Mark Mandica, Executive Director of The Amphibian Foundation stands next to an ambitious list of amphibians we were hoping to see on our amphibian walk. Mark explaining the dynamics of an ephemeral wetland A Spotted Salamander ( Ambystoma maculatum) egg mass Crystal Mandica, Co-founder of The Amphibian Foundation holding a Spotted Salamander egg mass Southern Red-back Salamander, Plethodon serratus Daylin was very curious, but didn't want to get too close Kathy wa...