January Soquel Demo Forest Survey

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Calfirecap
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January Soquel Demo Forest Survey

Post by Calfirecap »

Last year (2013) with the conditions that we had, we never held a Fall/Winter Soquel Demonstration Forest Herp Survey, and other surveys kept me from hosting one this year in December, so we are going to have one in January instead. We've never held one in January, so it should be interesting to see what comes up.

The date is Saturday Jan 17th. with a back-up plan to hold it the following Saturday (1/24) in case we are rained out.

I'll post the details later, I just wanted to get this out there for planning purposes.
NAFHA members wishing to attend say aye.

Lawrence
RobertH
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Re: January Soquel Demo Forest Survey

Post by RobertH »

Thanks for putting together another Soquel survey. As much as we would like to be there, I am afraid we'll have to pass since we were just there a month ago. But we plan to come up again sometime later this year, hopefully in spring.

Robert
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Calfirecap
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Re: January Soquel Demo Forest Survey

Post by Calfirecap »

Robert,
I don't think the January survey is going to have much of a turn out anyway, but we'll have a spring survey. Maybe that one will work out better.

Lawrence
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Chad M. Lane
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Re: January Soquel Demo Forest Survey

Post by Chad M. Lane »

I may be free, but if it stays cold I think I'll have to skip out.



Cheers,
Chad
Zach_Lim
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Re: January Soquel Demo Forest Survey

Post by Zach_Lim »

Rain or shine, I'll be there.

I'm sure we can scare up a Contia!
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yoloherper
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Re: January Soquel Demo Forest Survey

Post by yoloherper »

Unless something comes up, I should be able to make it.
-Elliot
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Calfirecap
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Re: January Soquel Demo Forest Survey

Post by Calfirecap »

OK, it looks like we will have enough people now, I was thinking we were going to have to postpone this one. January can be hit or miss but, if the weather holds out it could be good.
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Calfirecap
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Re: January Soquel Demo Forest Survey

Post by Calfirecap »

As of now the 10 day forecast is calling for showers all weekend. If that stays the same we'll postpone the survey. Stay tuned.
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Calfirecap
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Re: January Soquel Demo Forest Survey

Post by Calfirecap »

The weather forecast has changed from 60% chance of showers to just 10% so it looks like we are back on for this coming Saturday.
The meeting location will be the Burrell Cal Fire Station located at 25050 Highland Way, Los Gatos CA 95030. This is the same location we were meeting at when we first started the survey, not where we've been meeting up the last few times.

Meeting time will be 10:00 AM and we will be out for most of the day, so bring a lunch.

To get there:
From San Jose:
Take Hwy 17 S
Take the Summit Rd exit and cross over the Hwy onto Summit Road.
Take Summit Rd past Soquel San Jose Rd where the road becomes Highland Way. (About 5 minutes)
In about 5 minutes look for the Burrell Fire Station on your right hand side.

From Santa Cruz:
Take Hwy 17 N
Take the Summit Rd exit on your right.
Take Summit Rd past Soquel San Jose Rd where the road becomes Highland Way. (About 5 minutes)
In about 5 minutes look for the Burrell Fire Station on your right hand side.

There is very poor cell phone reception there so if you run into problems the phone number there is (408) 353-1022.
The on duty supervisor will be expecting us.

Lawrence
Zach_Lim
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Re: January Soquel Demo Forest Survey

Post by Zach_Lim »

Hey Lawrence,

What time is the survey expected to end? I totally forgot that I am playing a show in Oakland that night and have to be in SF (at my studio) at like 530PM.

Thanks
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Calfirecap
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Re: January Soquel Demo Forest Survey

Post by Calfirecap »

Zach,
I was figuring we would go to about 3:00 and be back at Burrell Fire Station and call it a day around 3:30 or so. Depending upon where you are going in SF, and traffic it could work. Your call.

Lawrence
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Fundad
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Re: January Soquel Demo Forest Survey

Post by Fundad »

Do you want this to be a Sticky?
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Calfirecap
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Re: January Soquel Demo Forest Survey

Post by Calfirecap »

No, no sticky. This is going to be a small survey, and it's tomorrow. Thanks anyway.
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Calfirecap
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Re: January Soquel Demo Forest Survey

Post by Calfirecap »

I know you have all been waiting for the results, (well a couple of you anyway). So here's the story, The number of participants dwindled quickly and in the end it was just down to Elliot (Yolo Herper) and myself left to pull it off. The benefit of small number was that we were able to do a little reconnoitering of a site I had been hoping to check out for quite some time. It was a big opening in the canopy that you could see from the road, but difficult to negotiate and not a place I wanted to venture off solo. As it turned out the opening in the tree tops was directly over a very steep drainage and not suitable for herping. The good thing is, I was able to check this place off on my 'to do' list.

We began herping at a site with just a few boards and an assortment of natural cover, again not a good place for a large group. The first herp of the day was noted when Elliot said "What is that?" Well here it is:

Image
This CA Newt, severely emaciated, was still alive, but just barely. Last Spring most of the Newts around here looked pretty bad, but not like this.

Anyway, it did get better after that, much better!

Of course we found a few of these guys, one hundred and five of them during the survey and you can throw in one more for good measure when Elliot couldn't resist one more flip at the gate.
Image

Getting back to the Newts, most of the CA newts we encountered (51) were gravid and in much better health than the first one:
Image

We also got a few Rough Skinned Newts (7):
Image
Some like the on in this photo were pretty had to distinguish from CA Newts.

Arboreal Salamanders of varying ages were present as well, six in total.
Image

Yellow-eyed Ensatina were also quite prevalent: (49 of them in total)
Image

As for reptiles, we found a hand full of these Coast Range Fence Lizards of varying ages (10):
Image

Northern Alligator Lizards were also encountered (12), including this remarkable red one:
Image

We found one Skilton's Skink at a new site under a large board I placed last summer:
Image

As for snakes, we got a couple of junior sized Ringers:
Image

One juvie Santa Cruz Gartersnake:
Image

And lastly, herp wise, one very small 131mm, but gorgeous Forest Sharp-tail snake:
Image

Remarkable fungus was plentiful as well:
Image

So to sum it up, the two of us found 245 various herps in 6 1/2hrs of herping. Crunching the numbers this comes to one herp per person about every 3 minutes, quite adequate for mid-January :)

We didn't cover as much ground as I had hoped, just too many herps for two people, but we were both quite satisfied with the day.

Lawrence
RobertH
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Re: January Soquel Demo Forest Survey

Post by RobertH »

Those are some pretty awesome results, especially for a survey of two! Well done. :thumb:

And, yeah, that emaciated Newt is crazy. Never seen anything even remotely like it. It's amazing how long they can hang on.

Robert
Zach_Lim
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Re: January Soquel Demo Forest Survey

Post by Zach_Lim »

Excellent finds, all of them. Especially like the sc Garter and the sharp. Sorry again for missing this survey.
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El Garia
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Re: January Soquel Demo Forest Survey

Post by El Garia »

Well done, guys :thumb: Looks like a great day in the field.

Excellent Elgaria shot, Lawrence!

-Derek
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Owen
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Re: January Soquel Demo Forest Survey

Post by Owen »

Calfirecap wrote: So to sum it up, the two of us found 245 various herps in 6 1/2hrs of herping. Crunching the numbers this comes to one herp per person about every 3 minutes, quite adequate for mid-January :)

We didn't cover as much ground as I had hoped, just too many herps for two people, but we were both quite satisfied with the day.

Lawrence
That's crazy. I did 1-1/2 hours with the dog Monday morning and I saw 1 Gopher Snake, 1 Sceloporus. I could only voucher the snake (fast liz).
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Calfirecap
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Re: January Soquel Demo Forest Survey

Post by Calfirecap »

Zach, no worries man. I hope your concert went as well as this epic herping did. :)

Derek, thanks and that Elgaria was by far the reddest/maroonish gator I have ever seen.

Owen, I don't think your new dog cared and at least the two of you got out.

Thanks guys!

Lawrence
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Fundad
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Re: January Soquel Demo Forest Survey

Post by Fundad »

Outstanding work guys.. :thumb:

Thank you both for your effort..

Pretty impressive numbers. :shock:

Fundad
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