End of 2014 and a Taste of 2015

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noah k.
Posts: 231
Joined: November 3rd, 2011, 5:27 pm

End of 2014 and a Taste of 2015

Post by noah k. »

I honestly am unable to put words on how amazing 2014 was. So many new friends, new places, and new herps! To those of you I was lucky enough to share it with, thank you and I can't wait to rock it again in 2015! A full year review would be ridiculous, but this Fall and Winter were better than spring and summer by a long shot so here is a smattering of what I saw from September through the last few weeks.

My favorite finds of the year (yeah yeah lame) were 3 Carolina Pygmy Rattlesnakes from near Atlanta. The first two were in spring, but I found a 3rd in September with Daniel Thompson.

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After that we hit the sandhills one weekend with Robb and Micah. We had a killer day overall, but the highlight was this Southern Hognose Snake found on the crawl at one of my favorite tin sites.

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As found.

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Coachwhip

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Scarlet Kingsnake

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Another weekend was spent in the sandhills with Saunders, Chas, Paul-Erik, and Ben.

Eastern Hognose

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Rough Green Snake

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Cottonmouth

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Southeastern Crowned Snake

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A weekend in mid October was spent surveying a watershed in the North Carolina mountains with The Orianne Society. Many awesome species were found on site, but we ventured further for other species.

Bat Cave Salamander

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Green Salamander

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Eastern Hellbender

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Weller's Salamander

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Yonahlossee Salamander

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Gray-cheeked Salamander

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Eastern Milk Snake

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Blue Ridge Spring Salamander

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Northern Ringneck

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I spent a few more days in the north Georgia mountains on vacation in early November. It was cold and I only found a few common species.

Black-bellied Salamander

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Seal Salamander

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Seepage Salamander

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Spring Salamander

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Black-bellied Salamander

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A November trip to the sandhills with Daniel and Matt Moore produced a gorgeous little sandhills kingsnake.

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November wasn't having any part of our shenanigans, and Georgia felt like Cananda for most of the month. A few rainy nights brought out the first winter breeding salamanders of the season.

Spotted Salamander

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Marbled Salamander

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Red Salamander

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Redback Salamander

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Four-toed Salamanders

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Daniel and I met up with Robb for a night chasing Tiger Salamanders in the sandhills. None were found, but we did turn up some Mole Salamanders and a pretty Ornate Chorus Frog.

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In mid December we headed south for a weekend searching for Indigos and Diamondbacks with The Orianne Society. It was a blast and we found 15 Indigos over the weekend as a group.

Unfortunately the only Eastern Diamondbacks were in holes.

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This female indigo was my first in the wild, and she was being followed closely by a male.

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Back in north Georgia winter wasn't holding anything back. Salamanders were still plentiful due to rain.

Eastern Newt

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Spotted Salamander

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Christmas day, Daniel and myself headed south to pick up Josh Young and seek warmer weather in south Florida. We met up with Nick Lauten, Garrett Craft, Ian Deery, and Chuck Fellers once we got there. It was an awesome week and a great chance to test out my new camera.

One of the first snakes of the trip was this Yellow Rat Snake I spotted.

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Along with several Everglades Racers.

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I spotted these copulating Eastern Diamonbacks at a spot Garrett had seen a male a week earlier.

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We spent an night hunting invasives with Ruben Ramirez.

Green Iguanas and Ruben

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Veiled Chameleon

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Brown Basilisk

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Cuban Knight Anole

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Two invasive snakes found later in the trip, on completely different ends of the size spectrum.

Brahminy Blind Snake

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Burmese Python

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Green Watersnake

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Yellow Rat Snake

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Eastern Garter Snake

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Peninsula Ribbon Snake

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Florida Brown Snake

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Corn Snakes

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Eastern Mud Snake

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One of the highlights of the trip was finding all four of south Florida's venomous snakes in less than 24 hours.

Cottonmouth

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Dusky Pygmy Rattlesnake

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Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake

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Eastern Coral Snake

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Here's a beautiful south Florida sunset to finish the trip.

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That's it for 2014! Here are a few from the first few weeks of 2015 in Georgia.

Ground Skink

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Marbled Salamander

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Slimy Salamander

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Five-line Skink

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Spotted Salamander

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Thanks for looking! Happy 2015!
Zach_Lim
Posts: 1607
Joined: June 10th, 2010, 8:37 pm

Re: End of 2014 and a Taste of 2015

Post by Zach_Lim »

Phenomenal year, especially for salamanders. Excellent shots all of them, especially the Aneides.

Good to see these full sized instead of small on Instagram.

-Zach
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intermedius
Posts: 481
Joined: March 22nd, 2012, 7:19 pm

Re: End of 2014 and a Taste of 2015

Post by intermedius »

Loved every herp, looks like you had a sublime year.

- Justin
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walk-about
Posts: 567
Joined: June 14th, 2010, 12:04 pm
Location: 'God's Country' aka western KY
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Re: End of 2014 and a Taste of 2015

Post by walk-about »

Noah - What a fantastic post my friend. The Hellbender of course is my favorite!! Southern Hogger and Pygmy are really nice finds anytime, any place and any where. Great shots all around.

Rock ON!

Dave
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noah k.
Posts: 231
Joined: November 3rd, 2011, 5:27 pm

Re: End of 2014 and a Taste of 2015

Post by noah k. »

Thanks guys!
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Andrew G
Posts: 278
Joined: June 7th, 2010, 1:53 pm
Location: South-Central Kansas

Re: End of 2014 and a Taste of 2015

Post by Andrew G »

That survey with the Orianne Society looks like a blast! I love the shine on those indigos, and even if the EDB was in a hole, you still managed a nice picture.

Looks like an outstanding year of herping!
HerpMan ATL
Posts: 84
Joined: August 30th, 2014, 12:36 pm

Re: End of 2014 and a Taste of 2015

Post by HerpMan ATL »

Even though I've seen most of these already on flickr...Awesome shots and year Noah. You could find em in a snow storm I believe.
BeMoreAssertive
Posts: 24
Joined: December 27th, 2012, 8:24 am

Re: End of 2014 and a Taste of 2015

Post by BeMoreAssertive »

That looks like a pretty good year to me! Finding that hellbender must have been pretty exciting. I love that knight anole shot as well.
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