And now salamander migration

A volunteer holds up a spotted salamander in New Jersey - Image from New York Times

Just last week I had written about how authorities in Taiwan are helping butterfly migration and are taking special precautions to assist the process. Now it’s the turn of salamanders. All over the US from Vermont to Philadelphia, volunteers known as bucket brigades are helping salamanders get across the road over to reach their mating areas. In New Haven, Vermont, 45 people volunteered one night to carry salamanders and other amphibians like frogs and newts across the road assisting their annual migration to mate.

In places like these, rainy nights in early spring are filled with the activity of these beings, hopping and crawling all over the woodlands and roads. But a lot of them end up being squashed on the road by vehicles, which don’t notice them in the night. The volunteers are very organized, even keeping count on a piece of paper like University of Vermont student Kaitlin Friedman. She walked with the other volunteers with flashlights and clipboards, carrying blue-spotted, red-backed and four-toed salamanders and wood frogs across the road even as she noted down the number and species, including the ones flattened on the asphalt. After two hours, the group had counted and helped 589 amphibians and had noted 97 dead ones.

In Massachusetts, tunnels have been put up to help salamanders migrate

Watch a nice video of salamander migration

Get to know spotted salamanders