Repost, herping early 2010 DUW

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AndyO'Connor
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Joined: June 7th, 2010, 7:14 pm
Location: Pacific Northwest

Repost, herping early 2010 DUW

Post by AndyO'Connor »

I am reposting these from another site I had posted them, just to get some field post history built up quickly, if nobody minds. I am only doing 2010 field posts for now though.

So I just realized I need to post these as spring is approaching and I don't want to fall behind. Already got a couple lifers this year. Though for time's sake I may not post everything, these are the better pictures out of a bunch.


At the end of January I decided to try and find herps every month of the year as some of my midwest compadres did last year. Here's a northwestern salamander Ambystoma gracilis showing it's defensive posture. It took VERY little (none) pestering to get it this gooey.

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We didn't lick it...

And a trio of Ensatina Ensatina eschscholtzi found within a couple feet of eachother.

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A family portrait

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The following weekend was a longer trip, and with a few big targets in mind we set out to just across the border into Oregon. Here are a couple highlights.

We found many Dunn's salamanders Plethodon dunni and western redback salamanders Plethodon vehiculum

Dunn's

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Baby redback

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Partially melanistic adult redback

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We saw tons of newts swimming in backed up portions of the creek and also found this early Pseudacris regilla eggmass.

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Most of the pictures I took of the newts while they were underwater aren't that great so I'll spare you. But here is a nice Columbia torrent salamander Rhyacotriton kezeri a lifer.

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Also seen in a seep were multiple tailed frogs Ascaphus truei.

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We found an awesome pond just stuffed full of newts and breeding northwestern salamanders and witnessed newts predating on fresh A. gracilis eggmasses. Here's a fresh pair that hadn't been chomped up yet, and haven't expanded into the large grapefruit shape most people see them as.

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All of my newt eating egg pics are pretty lousy as I only had the opportunity of shooting some way out in the middle of the pond, but we came back at night and saw all of the adult A. gracilis out in force so we grabbed a few for on land shots.

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Natural light, no flash
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shaded, with flash
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Our main target of the trip, a bit of a long shot, finding a Van ****'s salamander Plethodon vandykei in Oregon (They are only known from Washington) Didn't happen, but I really wanted to see one as I hadn't before and they are pretty cool animals, regarded by some as the rarest vertebrate in the U.S.

We were hiking along a creek in prime habitat and I came up to a fallen tree at waist height and right on the other side, out in the open was an amazing bright orange salamander. it vanished before I could get my legs swung over the tree and after a good bit of digging, I couldn't find it. We hiked fruitlessly up the creek for a while longer, only seeing a couple more torrents, and on the way back down to the car, I decided to have one more look in the spot I had dug. There was a log with a mat of moss I hadn't noticed right in the middle of where I had pushed all of the leaves and dirt away, and I lifted it and was rewarded with this gem.

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A close up shows the distinguishing triangular parotid glands, the cirri, and nasolabial grooves.

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Carl Koch
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Location: West Milwaukee, WI

Re: Repost, herping early 2010 DUW

Post by Carl Koch »

Great shots, Andy -- you guys sure have some wild-looking sals in your area!
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Joshua Wallace
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Joined: June 7th, 2010, 6:57 pm
Location: Orting, WA

Re: Repost, herping early 2010 DUW

Post by Joshua Wallace »

Andy your pics are amazing, and those were some great trips of ours. Carl, we have the coolest salamanders up here.
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Ross Padilla
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Re: Repost, herping early 2010 DUW

Post by Ross Padilla »

Cool avatar, Andy. Thats the coolest Striped Racer ever. When can we see that? Or maybe I haven't found the post yet.
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AndyO'Connor
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Location: Pacific Northwest

Re: Repost, herping early 2010 DUW

Post by AndyO'Connor »

Yeah Ross the post is here, viewtopic.php?f=2&t=135

I have more pictures of it but I think I only posted one of it, it was wicked and if I had room at home, it might have ended up as a founding stock breeder for some high pink striped whips
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Ross Padilla
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Re: Repost, herping early 2010 DUW

Post by Ross Padilla »

Oh that was a Whip Snake. My bad, but a very nice snake no matter what the species.
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AndyO'Connor
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Joined: June 7th, 2010, 7:14 pm
Location: Pacific Northwest

Re: Repost, herping early 2010 DUW

Post by AndyO'Connor »

It's all good, species didn't change the fact that we saw two in that area and both of them were near 4 feet in length and had a bunch of color creeping up the sides from the bottom like in that picture, I really like Masticophis :D
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