In the summer of 2020, I found myself in Massachusetts during the pandemic. I began looking up species which I had not seen before and the Northern Spring Salamander came to my attention. The historical record I had to go by was quite old (many decades) but I decided to give it a try again. My first effort a couple of weeks prior was unsuccessful, turning up lots of dusky and two-lined salamanders but not my target species. I stopped first in the morning to search through some roadside junk piles. Surprisingly, they turned up no snakes today. I stopped along the roadside to look through some rock piles, as well. This too turned up little, a duck, some of the first blooming mountain laurels of the year, a leadback phase redback salamander, and a garter snake. Having little luck so far, I went back to take another look for the Springs salamander.

During my first attempt, I located water and gater snakes, dusky and two lined salamanders, but no spring salamander
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I began searching under the streamside rocks, unsure of what the odds were. I encountered a man with a net who told me he had caught one 10 years before, so that was encouraging. Not more than 5 minutes later, I turned over a partially submerged rock to see a much larger salamander with a red-orange tinge. By the size alone, I knew I had found my target.

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