I have been visiting local vernal pools over the past week looking for signs of spring salamanders and frogs. Amid the choruses of spring peepers I did find one Yellow-spotted Salamander -- but it scrambled under the pond debris before I could get a good look at it. No signs of Blue-spotted or Marbled Salamanders as of yet.
I did come across this Wood Frog (Lithobates sylvaticus) sitting on top of the partially submerged leaf litter. This small brown frog has a characteristic brown-black mask and a call that sounds like a flock of noisy ducks.
A "pond snail" crawls by the frog's right front foot.
