I don't usually take a lot of video, but I wanted to give an idea of the slow but determined progress, albeit a bit awkward looking. David Attenborough narrating would have helped. For fun I searched for "David Attenborough salamander" and I found this recording where he talks about how his first pet was a salamander.
When I used to bike this route to work every day I saw them a couple of times. (see here and here) Both of those times were in the late summer, although also in cool conditions. This is the first time I've seen one in the spring. I've only spotted them because they stand out crossing the paved trail. This time it was right at the edge of the trail. A few seconds later and I would have missed it. They are supposed to be mostly nocturnal, but it would be too cold at night currently. My guess is that the adults live on the river bank where they won't be disturbed, but travel across the path to get to the pools of water where they breed. And then the juveniles travel back.
I had gone out with my camera to see if the crocuses were out, but I didn't see any sign of them due to the wintry April we've had so far. Surprisingly, the weather hadn't stopped the salamander from coming out.Salamanders are amphibians, like frogs, and they're cold blooded. It was about +1c and cloudy - not even the sun to warm it up. It's amazing that it could be walking around when so cold. There were still patches of snow on the ground.
Amphibians are declining due to habitat loss, pollution, and disease so it was nice to see there are still some here.
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