repost; March in the Great NW, DUW

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AndyO'Connor
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repost; March in the Great NW, DUW

Post by AndyO'Connor »

another repost;

Sorry ahead of time to BatrachoFANS. To keep up with my challenge of herping all 12 months of the year I headed toward the Washington-Oregon border with josh (steelherper) this last weekend to see what was moving. We knew that amphibians would dominate the species count, but Josh and others had already seen snakes out, so I was eager to see 2010's first reptiles. We started out near Josh's house where he is conducting a field survey/study of different types of AC. Here's a couple shots of some of the northern alligators we saw.

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Josh doing his thing.

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After making the rounds, we got back in the car to try to get to some spots before too late (which didn't quite work out, we ended up getting indoors around 12:30am). We searched for Oregon Slender salamanders to see what all the fuss was about since neither of us had seen one just yet. (I secretly was hoping to find mine in the jaws of a large ringneck). I flipped this tiny little bug with a stumped tail, and honestly, now that I have seen ONE slender, I feel like I've seen them all. OVER IT.

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Next up were some more interesting snot lizards, and a snot dragon.

Cascade torrent sallies that were all out on the crawl a decent distance from running water and a decent sized giant that was flipped not too far from the torrents.

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A more appreciative look at Dicamptodon tenebrosus.

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We also saw many larch mountain sallies and an ensatina, but I won't bore you with those pictures (I didn't take any). Next morning was a little herp related work first, with egg mass survey flag clean up. This is on a protected wildlife reserve and has been going on for many years but I have only been involved since last year. Here's a nice shot of the scenery.

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If you look close in the last shot, you might notice little white specks on the far right, these are what they are.

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I really enjoyed taking a few minutes to capture my friends deep into the data collection.

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Lots of eggs and tadpoles of Oregon spotted frog were seen as well as plenty of tree frogs and a couple newts, here are some of those.

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I was done with the wet squishy stuff and begged to go find snakes since i hadn't seen a wild one since late 2009. I was obliged with my first snake of the year, a common garter in situ.

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Next was a pretty northwestern garter that would NOT sit still, so in hand is the best shot available, sorry.

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Sean(Oregonherper55) flipped a neo racer which was a welcome surprise. he was cool and sat still for this posed shot.

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We went to a couple spots where the garters congregate to see what we could find. the largest piles only had 10-15 snakes, but it was still nice to see soo many snakes in one spot.
I love how they periscope to see what the two legged beast coming toward them is up to.

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While I was trying to get closer to the above piles without spooking them, Josh yelled to me he had found another racer, an adult, that had been coiled in the grass near a pile and was too cold to bolt off. This was significant as only the 3rd time a racer had been documented at the particular den in the last 10-15 years (I don't remember the exact time line).

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Somebody stood up too quick and the snake flattened out and got into a pose similar to a defensive indigo snake I saw at a serpentarium once.

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It calmed down for a minute more for these last glamor shots and then was released back at the point of capture.

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(My favorite shot of the weekend probably)
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On the way home we stopped a couple times and saw some southern alligator lizards, a western skink, and a gopher snake from last year's litters that made it through winter, but no pics were taken. Total species count was 17 species I believe (4 snakes, 3 lizards, 3 frogs, and 7 salamanders) which is pretty good for this early. Thanks for looking. Anyone concerned with using the habitat shots to pinpoint locations and collect at those spots know this, aside from it being illegal in Washington without a Scientific collection permit (which I am listed as a part of), most of this is in a National wildlife refuge, and there are always people watching out for the sensitive spots, and strangers are usually questioned with their intent to visit the area, so don't bother, go somewhere else poachers, like a Mexico border town, I hear they are welcoming to visitors.
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Carl Koch
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Location: West Milwaukee, WI

Re: repost; March in the Great NW, DUW

Post by Carl Koch »

More great shots, man! Love the giant sal!
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Joshua Wallace
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Joined: June 7th, 2010, 6:57 pm
Location: Orting, WA

Re: repost; March in the Great NW, DUW

Post by Joshua Wallace »

Another great trip Andy. I'll add some of my pics here.
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Ross Padilla
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Re: repost; March in the Great NW, DUW

Post by Ross Padilla »

Very nice post, Andy. What happens if you spook theGarters. Do they all disappear or just stop going about their business?
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