BANGOR DAILY NEWS • May 11, 2024
Each spring, after the ice melts and the ground thaws, Maine’s spotted salamanders emerge with a goal in mind: to reproduce. To do that successfully, they travel to woodland waters called vernal pools, which lack predatory fish because they dry up in late summer or fall. There they mingle and lay eggs, then depart, shuffling off through the leaf litter. This migration, called Maine’s Big Night, is predictable. Salamanders need rain to stay hydrated, and they wait until the temperature is above 40 degrees or so. Usually, it occurs at the beginning of April, and it lasts for a few nights. I was expecting to find a few salamanders. Conditions were just right for spring migration. But what I didn’t anticipate was finding more than 100 of them — all in one place.