Denmark, April 2015 & a bit (for Hans, 11 months late)

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krismunk
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Joined: June 7th, 2010, 6:17 am
Location: Copenhagen, Denmark

Denmark, April 2015 & a bit (for Hans, 11 months late)

Post by krismunk »

I haven't posted much on domestic herping for a few years so I thought it about time. I really can't be bothered to do a full and comprehensive catch up post, though, so here's just a short presentation of last month's finds, as I was fortunate to have the time to get out a number of times, mostly just for short, local trips. To fill out the species list at the end I'll provide a few other pics from the last couple of years. Perhaps I'll even throw in some odds and ends as well. I don't have many old pics to show though, as almost all were lost in a hard disk crash (yes, the stupid didn't have full backup :oops: ). Furthermore, as I'm not much of a photographer and it's easy to get jaded with such a short supply of species I've been a little sloppy in the photography department I'm sorry to say. Several pics are of rather sketchy quality and it's somewhat random what I've even photographed. Please bear over with me.

Anurans make up the bulk of the Danish species list and April is breeding time for most species so naturally this is one of the high points of the herping year. I love the loud choruses, night time ambience, phsyiological changes (blue arvalis) and sheer action complete with fights, gang rapes, necrophilia and sex starved typical males jumping on anything up to and including the photographer's fingers. This year I had the good fortune to witness breeding of the common toad, Bufo bufo, green toad, Bufotes variabilis, common frog, Rana temporaria, moor frog, Rana arvalis, and common spadefoot toad, Pelobates fuscus.

I found temporaria and arvalis breeding simultaneously in large numbers in the same pond, temporaria sticking (mostly) to the northern end, arvalis occupying the southern end. Unfortunately I was in a hurry to pick up my daughter from ballet so pics were even more rushed than usual.

Our most common brown ranid, Rana temporaria engaged in a little gory necrophilia

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Also common and equally drab about 364 days a year, arvalis males turn a beautiful blue at the height of breeding. It can be much more stunning than this but this is all I've got.

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Temporaria and B. bufo mating balls are a common sight. This was the first time I witnessed one with arvalis.

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The omnipresent big bad Bufo bufo

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I love green toads. I find them beautiful, their calls charming, their demeanour likewise in a typically brute and sluggish toad like fashion. Somewhat rare, in Denmark they are primarily a coastal species and the Copenhagen area is one of their strongholds. April nights on the harbour in the company of breeding toads in the shallows surrounded by huge eels hunting minnows around your feet and bats hunting bugs in the air are magical. I worry a little about his population though, as development is threatening its habitat. Numbers this year were depressingly low.

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Another of my favourites is the common spadefoot, Pelobates fuscus. The most secretive of Danish anurans, emitting only discrete low volume calls from underwater vegetation they are strictly nocturnal and terrestrial outside of the breeding season, avoiding even moonlit nights and spending most of their time underground. In the breeding season, they occasionally dsiplay some diurnal activity in good weather. A somewhat rare species, due to habitat degradation their numbers have gone down at an alarming rate, disappearing from 98% of known sites in the period 1945-1990. I do not know the figures since but I believe that due to a concerted conservation effort the rate of decline has at least gone down considerably. With no populations in my immediate vicinity they are an uncommon find for me and a species that I had never before seen by day. Well, last month I just happened to be close to a couple of breeding ponds with an hour to spend, at the right time of year and in perfect conditions. Much to my surpise I heard two calling males, managed to locate them, and even found an ovipositing couple.

Pics are crap, experience was great.

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Also seen, but not breeding, a typical big, brash, green water frog species, the hybridogenetic edible frog, Pelophylax kl. esculentus.

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I went to southern Jutland on Good Friday (odd name for a day commemorating the crucifixion of your hero, the Danish version "Long Friday" seeming more apt) in slightly chilly weather searching for alpine newts, Ichthyosaura alpestris. Abundant and widespread further south, in Denmark, at the northernmost edge of the distribution they are rare and localized. Hence, I am not jaded and can still fully appreciate the beauty of breeding males.

Now if only I also could convey it...

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I also found good numbers of the abundant smooth newt, Lissotriton vulgaris and the not uncommon, rather impressive, great crested newt, Triturus cristatus.

Seeing other people's pics, I have always allowed myself to believe field aquarium photography to be easy. I guess I've been fooling myself.

Triturus cristatus
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Lissotriton vulgaris, male
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Lissotriton, male + female & Ichthyosaura, males
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I spent less time searching for and, particularly, photographing reptiles last month, hence have less to show for it.

The sand lizard, Lacerta agilis is the most impressive and less abundant of our local lacertids. In the breeding season, the green males turn especially colourful. I've seen only a few this year and oddly only females.

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Sturdy and somewhat of a habitat generalist, the viviparous lizard, Zootoca vivipara, is a very common find.

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I like anguids, so our final, abundant but rather secretive, lizard species, the slow worm, Anguis fragilis, is always a welcome find.

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Adult male
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The grass snake, Natrix natrix, is the more common of our two native snake species. In eastern Denmark they're usually completely black apart for the nuchal blotches. In Jutland they tend to be slate grey with a hint of a spotted pattern. I usually see at least a couple of mating balls each year, this year only one, and with just three snakes.

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Mating
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Adders, Vipera berus, are also quite common and widespread. They display nice variability but somehow I've missed out on the recently shed silver & black males this time around. No fights or peep shows for me this year either.

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Two for one basking females with bonus grass snake
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That's it for April, as promised I'll add a few other pics from the last couple of years for the sake of diversity, if nothing else.

Our final toad species, the natterjack, Epidalea calamita is a cute little loudmouth. Unlike its larger cousins, it runs like mouse, rather than hops, in its search for the new, temporary puddles in which it typically breeds. All but extirpated from Zealand I don't see them every year. Here are a few from last year.

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Ou final brown ranid, the agile frog, Rana dalmatina, is the most elegant of the three and the earliest breeder, usually providing a good start to the herping year. Confined in distribution to the south east it is quite common within its range.

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The European tree frog, Hyla arborea, is a typical looking tree frog which by Danish standards makes it seem quite exotic. Though still uncommon, conservation efforts are proving very succesful and it is rebounding quite nicely.

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The charming fire-bellied toad, Bombina bombina, was on the brink of extirpation in Denmark 25 years ago. Since then, it too has rebounded thanks to massive conservation efforts. It is still rare though.

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Our final native species, the marsh frog, Pelophylax ridibundus, bigger and badder parent species of the big, bad edible frog is confined to the Baltic island of Bornholm and a couple of offshore islets. I haven't been there since 2004 and don't have any pics from there so here's a Croatian specimen just for reference.

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We have a couple of exotics as well, none seem to pose any real threat to our local species as only one – the red-eared slider, Trachemys scripta, is even remotely widespread and only one – the Balkan water frog, Pelophylax kurtmuelleri, a close, even larger, relative of the marsh frog, is reproducing steadily. The latter is confined to a single rather isolated Copenhagen location. All other exotics are just incidental individuals.

Finally, as promised, odds and ends ;-)

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John Martin
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Re: Denmark, April 2015 & a bit (for Hans, 11 months late)

Post by John Martin »

Well, and humorously, written! :thumb: I thought your species diversity was very good, and nice pics. Though after that last pic I might have to take an ice pick to my eyes... :shock:
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TeeJay
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Re: Denmark, April 2015 & a bit (for Hans, 11 months late)

Post by TeeJay »

Those Green Toads are pretty cool! I just Googled them up and see on the Wikipedia map that they just barely range into S.E. Denmark. (?) And I also heard a sound sample of their call. They almost sound like our American Screech Owls.

And as for that last pic: One of the People of Walmart? :shock:
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krismunk
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Re: Denmark, April 2015 & a bit (for Hans, 11 months late)

Post by krismunk »

Thanks for the kind words, guys :)

John, sorry about your eyes.

TeeJay, Bufo viridis, s.l., has been split into 5 species (and, as part of another split on the genus level, reassigned to a different genus). Both splits are contested. The map you are referring to applies to Bufo / Pseudepidalea / Bufotes viridis, s.s. The Danish population is assigned to B. variabilis. In Denmark - on the north western edge of their range - they are scattered across a number of mainly coastal localities throughout the south eastern third of the country.

I had to Google "People of Walmart" :lol:
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krismunk
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Location: Copenhagen, Denmark

Re: Denmark, April 2015 & a bit (for Hans, 11 months late)

Post by krismunk »

I stopped by the kurtmuelleri pond when I was in town today.

Six big adults were kind enough to sit together, desplaying some of the varability of the species, deserving a better photographer.

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They've been there for a couple of decades, haven't done any harm yet, but if some home owner decides to take a few tadpoles home to their garden pond in Northern Zealand be afraid...

Think California bullfrogs :(
Kyle Barker
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Joined: June 21st, 2013, 7:56 am

Re: Denmark, April 2015 & a bit (for Hans, 11 months late)

Post by Kyle Barker »

Wow, those are amazing. I had no idea Denmark was so rich in species, thanks for the pictures. I love toads as well, but those green toads look absolutely stunning. The species as a whole pretty safe in your country?

Maybe i shouldnt be, but i am really shocked how many herps you have, especially the reptiles.
dendrelaphis
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Re: Denmark, April 2015 & a bit (for Hans, 11 months late)

Post by dendrelaphis »

that V. berus on top of that N. natrix is simply amazing!
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krismunk
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Location: Copenhagen, Denmark

Re: Denmark, April 2015 & a bit (for Hans, 11 months late)

Post by krismunk »

Thanks, guys :)

...& yes, Kyle, the green toads, though uncommon & limited in distribution to selected coastal localities in the southern third of the country are safe for the time being as are all our herp species. There is a general decline in numbers and some species are somewhat rare but all herps are protected and they are offered a fair degree of political awareness so any time numbers of a particular species are critically low conservation efforts tend to be intensified. Though by no means the rarest atm I am most worried about the plight of the spadefoots simply because of the rate of decline and fragmentation of habitat as well as the conservation machine not having revved up yet.
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Hans Breuer (twoton)
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Re: Denmark, April 2015 & a bit (for Hans, 11 months late)

Post by Hans Breuer (twoton) »

How did I miss this? Thanks very much for thinking of me! Don't know about Denmark, but it's heartwarming to see that species that during my childhood 40 years ago were absolute rarities and/or restricted to tiny remote areas have made such a fantastic comeback. I'd LOVE to see a treefrog in Germany, and now I know there is a chance!

Thanks again!
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