Hello

[corey.raimond]

Hi everyone,

I just moved out to the Seattle area from Wisconsin because my girlfriend got a job out here. I literally know less than 5 people here so I thought I would see if anyone was interested in meeting up sometime to look for salamanders or a weekend trip when it gets a bit warmer.

I am a 29 year old male who is interested in all life forms especially wildflowers, salamanders and snakes. I used to post on FHF somewhat regularly around 5 years ago. Here is a link to my photos https://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/

I haven't been seeing much for herps yet this year although I did see a few northwestern salamanders in Kirkland a few weeks ago under logs.

Northwestern Salamander by corey.raimond, on Flickr


Northwestern Salamander by corey.raimond, on Flickr

Cheers,



-Corey

[TravisK]

Corey,

Stayed tuned, as it warms up there will be more herp and herper activity. I am sure some of our Westside members will give you a shout out after too long. Welcome to the Northwest!

[jonathan]

Very nice. How many Northwesterns did you see total?

I'm still trying to figure out Northwestern congregation patterns. For most of my life I was under the impression "Northwestern Salamanders have low population densities and you usually will just see one at any one time". Then I took a trip to Vancouver, and saw them over and over again, 2 to 6 in any one day. I've also seen other people finding 4-5 in single locales in Oregon/Washington. But I haven't figured out yet what it takes for that to happen.

[AndyO'Connor]

Corey, where do you live now? Kirkland is about 15 minutes from my work, 20 from home.

Jonathan, they definitely can be the most abundant salamander (maybe the most abundant vertebrate) in the right conditions, and I have on 2 separate years seen mass migrations in the fall in my neighborhood. Josh, Mack, and I meet up for my Halloween part at my house and go out to the boardwalk across the street from me which goes through a wetland with a creek system. The first year (2012), Josh and I found a few HUNDRED gracile in a couple of hours we stopped counting around 200 but easily doubled that. Then in 2013 I noticed some movement the week of the party and although we didn't have a one night gracile apocalypse, we still saw 40-50 in a couple hours. Last year was dry most of the week and colder than previous years, but we still found a few, and I didn't ever see more than 1-2 on the drive home each night. Keep in mind, these were all out on the crawl, crossing the street between my house and the park, and in the parking lot of the park, on the boardwalk, and in the grass on both sides of the boardwalk.

[jonathan]

That's just incredible Andy.

[corey.raimond]

Hi everyone,

I am on the border of Kenmore and Kirkland.

Interesting stories about the graciles. I found 2 that day flipping logs.

Thanks for the replies, looking forward to seeing some new herps this spring!



-Corey

[AndyO'Connor]

Yeah, you're maybe 15-20 minutes south of me, I'm in Mill Creek/Bothell. I just found a gracile in my driveway. If you want to meet up and grab a beer, or go herping soon, let me know.