Wood Frog (Lithobates sylvaticus) eggs. There’s a small man-made pond within sight of my kitchen window. Late winter and early spring finds much activity out there. Wood Frogs are the ones that start things off, having what seem like parties, loud parties that last all night long and on through the day, for many days. Now, as a result, the pond has many clumps of eggs. Of course there are Wood Frog eggs. No surprise there. All that noisy carousing. But there are other clumps of eggs that look quite different.
These eggs, look a bit like wads of cotton that have been wrapped around stems of aquatic plants in the pond. The eggs of Red-spotted Newts (Notophthalmus viridescens). Adult Newts populated my pond soon after it was put in and have been there ever since. Their life has four stages: 1) egg 2) tadpole 3) eft (terrestrial juvenile) and 4) newt (aquatic adult). In late winter/early spring female newts lay 200-375 eggs, attaching them to aquatic plants.
Here is the terrestrial juvenile stage. A little critter that I love to find in the woods. The Red-spotted Newt can live for between 12 and 15 years and can grow to a length of 5.5 inches. I’m uncertain of the number of aquatic adults that are living in the pond. They’re shy creatures that I don’t get to see often. But when I do I’m elated.