POV: It’s December in upstate New York. The three layers that I have on are just barely enough to keep me from shivering – it’s not actually that cold, but I’m anemic and have poor circulation. Each Wednesday for the past four weeks, I’ve gone to the site of my SPARCnet plots to search for eastern red-backed salamanders (Plethodon cinereus). The plots are 5 by 10 meter arrays of 50 wooden boards, each board is 12 by 12 inches. These boards act as cover objects for the salamanders. When red-backs are on the surface, they prefer to stay under a cover object, like a log or rock, (as opposed to out in the open) for a few reasons: (1) if they stay in direct sunlight for too long they can desiccate, or dry-out, and (2) the microenvironment under the cover object is perfect for salamanders to thrive! The cover objects maintain ideal temperatures and levels of moisture for the salamanders. We know that red-backs use natural cover objects instinctively, which is why SPARCnet uses artificial cover boards, like the 12 by 12 inch pieces of lumber, for surveying. Salamanders can pretty consistently be found underneath them, hanging out on the surface.

The purpose of these winter surveys, and the reason I find myself outside on this mildly frigid day, is to answer questions about winter activity at my specific SPARCnet plots. Like other amphibians, salamanders are cold-blooded – unlike how humans shiver or sweat, salamanders use the outside environment to regulate their body temperature. It’s the reason why you see turtles and lizards sunbathing on rocks – they need to physically be in a warm spot in order to warm up, digest their food, and carry out other necessary life functions. In the summer, it’s too hot for red-backs to be on the surface; they risk drying out or overheating. On the flip side, the winter is too cold for red-backs since they don’t have the ability to prevent themselves from freezing, so they go underground where they can do the salamander-version of hibernation. For this reason, official SPARCnet sampling – where we methodically flip each of the 50 cover boards at a site and take note of all the salamanders we find underneath – happens during the fall and spring when we are most likely to find red-backs on the surface.

The winter surveys are also to get a sense of when salamanders start coming up to the surface in the spring for their active season. At what point do the majority of these red-backs go underground? When do we start seeing them come to the surface? Who are the individuals staying out longer than others? Apparently, on this December Wednesday, almost nobody. 200-odd cover boards come and gone, and the salamanders have made a meager showing.

That doesn’t stay true for long. This would be a very boring blog post otherwise. So here we go again! Another bend at the knees, another board lifted from the ground, but it’s a different story this time. Two salamanders. Under the same board. And they’re kissing!