Jeffersons! Too cool! This is such a great video and the footage is wonderful. This is definitely so top content, IMO. I find my channel to pale in comparison to this work. I have yet to find any Jeffs but I will be patient. Too bad we don't live closer together, perhaps we can meet halfway some day and do a cola :)
Thanks Chris! They are pretty common in southern OH/IN but it’s like 90% timing - just have to be at the right pools at the right time (usually January to early March) during the right weather. Outside of that window, you would never know they were around! I’d love to get out in the field with you some day and look forward to the opportunity! Have learned a lot about plants and inverts from your channel and thoroughly enjoy your videos, you are such a great story-teller!
You guys really killed it with the footage in this episode, some of the best Jeffs footage I’ve seen on UA-cam. I know that was not easy to collect so very well done! Seeing a healthy population of Jefferson Salamanders must be reassuring for the health of that ecosystem, it was certainly amazing to observe! Great work! - Harrison and Evan
Thanks guys! Zach has a lot of patience, especially given his dislike for the cold 😅. Jeffs are actually pretty abundant where they occur in the Midwest and 50-100+ animals in a small pond is not too uncommon, but is always a reassuring sight - as you say!
Amazing footage once again I binge watched both of the new salamander videos last night when I should have been sleeping! Absolutely adore this content and camera work and the narration is top tier! I have a few questions, using the Olympus TG6, do you use a mounted light on it underwater to capture that insane spotted salamanders footage? Or is it a spotlight above the water? Just wondering because I plan on making more videos at night especially for breeding amphibians. Also are you holding the camera underwater or just leaving it there? Thanks in advance you guys rock!
Thanks! Usually have a suptig video light attached to the camera on the underside (just due to logistics of camera attachment, use a GoPro-tripod thread adapter) and for the spotteds, usually attached that to a small RC boat and left it to float around in the wetland. Have also just left the camera on the substrate hoping to catch salamanders moving past, which happened more in the Jeff video.
good videos-- keep it up. So the salamaders and other herps just avoid bigger bodies of water or is there something about vernal pools that attract them?
Yes - as Sylvia says, it’s mostly to do with predator avoidance and pretty strictly fish. Permanent water bodies tend to have resident fish populations, but small pools that dry up or freeze annually can’t sustain fish. Fish decimate amphibian eggs/larvae and many adult amphibians won’t even lay eggs in a pond if they detect fish smell/chemicals. Only a few species (bullfrogs, green frogs, American toads, Newts) are toxic/unpalatable enough to coexist with fish.
Awesome video! Looking forward to the next epesod!😄👍👌
Thanks! We’ve got another winter Ambystoma video on the way from the same region but very different habitat!
The underwater footage is absolutely fantastic, really impressed by the production quality. Great work guys!
Thanks Ben! You can’t overestimate how much time was spent frustrated kneeling in freezing water to get these clips 😅
-Zach
Great video! Incredible footage.
Thanks Gabe! Zach nearly froze his hands off to get it 😅
Jeffersons! Too cool! This is such a great video and the footage is wonderful. This is definitely so top content, IMO. I find my channel to pale in comparison to this work. I have yet to find any Jeffs but I will be patient. Too bad we don't live closer together, perhaps we can meet halfway some day and do a cola :)
Thanks Chris! They are pretty common in southern OH/IN but it’s like 90% timing - just have to be at the right pools at the right time (usually January to early March) during the right weather. Outside of that window, you would never know they were around! I’d love to get out in the field with you some day and look forward to the opportunity! Have learned a lot about plants and inverts from your channel and thoroughly enjoy your videos, you are such a great story-teller!
@@lifeunderfoot4805 Wow, thanks so much, really means a lot. You really know your stuff and have some great quality. I hope we can make it happen!
You guys really killed it with the footage in this episode, some of the best Jeffs footage I’ve seen on UA-cam. I know that was not easy to collect so very well done! Seeing a healthy population of Jefferson Salamanders must be reassuring for the health of that ecosystem, it was certainly amazing to observe! Great work!
- Harrison and Evan
Thanks guys! Zach has a lot of patience, especially given his dislike for the cold 😅. Jeffs are actually pretty abundant where they occur in the Midwest and 50-100+ animals in a small pond is not too uncommon, but is always a reassuring sight - as you say!
love seeing them swim
Aren’t they elegant, kind of mesmerizing? I need a loop of underwater Jefferson salamanders as my computer save screen animation 😅
Amazing footage once again I binge watched both of the new salamander videos last night when I should have been sleeping! Absolutely adore this content and camera work and the narration is top tier! I have a few questions, using the Olympus TG6, do you use a mounted light on it underwater to capture that insane spotted salamanders footage? Or is it a spotlight above the water? Just wondering because I plan on making more videos at night especially for breeding amphibians. Also are you holding the camera underwater or just leaving it there? Thanks in advance you guys rock!
Thanks! Usually have a suptig video light attached to the camera on the underside (just due to logistics of camera attachment, use a GoPro-tripod thread adapter) and for the spotteds, usually attached that to a small RC boat and left it to float around in the wetland. Have also just left the camera on the substrate hoping to catch salamanders moving past, which happened more in the Jeff video.
good videos-- keep it up. So the salamaders and other herps just avoid bigger bodies of water or is there something about vernal pools that attract them?
less predators in smaller and more ephemeral pools = better reproductive success
Yes - as Sylvia says, it’s mostly to do with predator avoidance and pretty strictly fish. Permanent water bodies tend to have resident fish populations, but small pools that dry up or freeze annually can’t sustain fish. Fish decimate amphibian eggs/larvae and many adult amphibians won’t even lay eggs in a pond if they detect fish smell/chemicals. Only a few species (bullfrogs, green frogs, American toads, Newts) are toxic/unpalatable enough to coexist with fish.
This rules