Very nice work,Tibor! Great variety of newts in one place..and the material is very good! Is that high activity of S.salamandra in that time of year,in day light, normal in Romania?..And did you find them in the open or you flipped them? 

I think this activity is usual everywhere, if you look after a longer rainy period. yes, they were active at surface in no more than 100 m2. you can estimate which is the real size of this population... 

I guess you're right! Maybe the size of the population here isn't that big..that's why they're not found that often(even after rain). 

For comparison, Salamandra activity in my town in Belgium: at night, tens of animals to be found walking around in two periods. First period as soon as winter cold stops and rains start: March-April (sometimes even February, occasionally even some specimens out earlier); second period: end of August-September (so I will be out soon, to go check). First period is related to larvae deposition, second to mating. However, that's no strict rule: there can be mating and larvae deposition at other times too. 

Jeroen,thanks for the feedback! I'm going to check my salamandra spots,too! Speaking of mating..has anyone photographed (or just observed) fire salamanders mating in the wild? I can't remember seeing photos of them mating..and it would be interesting since they mate in a strange way,you know! 

... in the same region, at the end of the May, around 11 o'clock in the morning, I saw several males courting the females... in this report 4 were males, 1 gravid and 1 subadult female... all active... 

I started monitoring "my" Salamandra population last year, so still early to tell a lot. No mating observed so far. Maybe next month...

I should of course add that outside these peak activity periods (which may be only relevant for northern Europe), also in summer after heavy rain massive activity can occur, including during the daytime. Interestingly, in 2007 in Romania, we found many diurnal Salamandra (Piatra Neamt). Weather was nice, but previous and subsequent nights were very wet, with not only Salamandra but nearly all species walking around, incl. cristatus etc. Good times ;-)! 

Well I guess we are on a salamandra mating hunt.now!:) So wish you luck..and I hope we'll see some photos soon!

Jeroen,keep us posted on the observations of "your" salamndra popultion!

Tibor,did you photographed them courting? 

sadly no pictures or videos till now, but today and tomorow I will be in Piatra Craiului Mountains and I hope to see some salamanders... maybe mating... or giving birth... 

Tibor,that would be great! Let us know what you've found when you get back!