In the middle of December I made a trip up about 2 1/2 hours north in west central Georgia in a passing storm front in hopes of seeing some lifer salamanders, and because the storms were just skipping my part of Georgia in general.
I originally started off about an hour north of me hoping to find some tiger salamanders crossing the road, after a couple of hours of hanging out in the area hoping for rain I noticed a storm front coming through an area about an hour and a half further north and decided to give it a shot.
Soon after reaching the area I found my first salamander of the night. The first of what would be many marbled salamanders to come.
Marbled salamander. by Josh Young, on Flickr
Not too long after I came across another salamander, a mole salamander crossing in a little cypress swamp area.
Mole salamander. by Josh Young, on Flickr
Only a few minutes after the mole, I came across a salamander shooting across the road rather quickly, much faster than any Ambystomid I had previously encountered before. It turned out to be my lifer spotted salamander. I ended up seeing 36 different individuals.
Spotted salamander. by Josh Young, on Flickr
In amongst the many two-lined salamanders on the road was this single four-toed salamander, also a lifer for me.
Four-toed salamander. by Josh Young, on Flickr
Four-toed salamander. by Josh Young, on Flickr
On my way home in the tail end of the front I came across the only snake of the night, a midland brown snake.
Midland brown snake. by Josh Young, on Flickr
Only a few minutes later down the road I noticed a mostly yellow salamander sitting in the middle of the road, I knew instantly it was a tiger salamander, I didn't realize until I got out just how gorgeous it was and how gravid she was.
Eastern tiger salamander. by Josh Young, on Flickr
I held onto a few of the spotteds for proper photographs since I couldn't really photograph them in a torrential downpour without ruining my camera.
Spotted salamander. by Josh Young, on Flickr
Spotted salamander. by Josh Young, on Flickr
Spotted salamander. by Josh Young, on Flickr
Spotted salamander. by Josh Young, on Flickr
The day before Christmas Eve I drove through several counties north of me chasing rain yet again, I finally managed to connect with the rains but salamander activity wasn't very high.
I came across another four-toed salamander in a different county. They're really neat little things.
Four-toed salamander. by Josh Young, on Flickr
Four-toed salamander. by Josh Young, on Flickr
I managed to cruise this guy, which displayed the characteristics of being a Chamberlain's dwarf salamander, which is a lifer.
Chamberlain's dwarf salamander. by Josh Young, on Flickr
I managed only a single spotted salamander that night, in a different county than the previous.
Spotted salamander. by Josh Young, on Flickr
The most common salamander on the road were southern two-lineds, I saw around 7 in 4 different counties, all females.
Southern two-lined salamander. by Josh Young, on Flickr
The evening of Christmas Noah and Daniel picked me up to head south again as we had the previous year to spend a week in SoFla.
The morning after we arrived we walked a trail in hopes of Brooks kingsnakes. The group was occupied with a cottonmouth when I happened to look down the trail and see what I thought was a large snake crossing the trail, it turned out to be this young burmese python.
Burmese python. by Josh Young, on Flickr
After hiking the trail for several miles and turning around, one of our group spotted this Brooks king on the side of the trail.
Brooks kingsnake. by Josh Young, on Flickr
Shortly after the same member of our group spotted a second Brooks in the same manner.
Brooks kingsnake. by Josh Young, on Flickr
Not even 20 yards from our vehicles back at the beginning of the trail, this young eastern diamondback rattlesnake was off on the edge of the trail.
Eastern diamondback rattlesnake. by Josh Young, on Flickr
We ended up only spending a day and night in "true" SoFla before heading to south central Florida.
This yellow rat snake was one of the first snakes we encountered in the area.
Yellow rat snake. by Josh Young, on Flickr
The first night in the area we stopped to take a moment to stretch our legs from cruising and Noah spotted this YOY eastern coral snake at his feet.
Eastern coral snake. by Josh Young, on Flickr
There were 2 vehicles that made up our party, and after that night they had the majority of the success for the rest of the trip. The same night as the coral Noah hiked, they also cruised a coral. There luck would continue as they cruised a juvenile Florida pine snake and two more corals.
Their first coral.
Eastern coral snake. by Josh Young, on Flickr
The juvenile pine snake.
Juvenile Florida pine snake. by Josh Young, on Flickr
Juvenile Florida pine snake. by Josh Young, on Flickr
One of the two corals from later on.
Eastern coral snake. by Josh Young, on Flickr
Eastern coral snake. by Josh Young, on Flickr
Was a nice way to end what was for me personally already my best year of herping so far. Here's to hoping I can have just as great of year as last. Thanks for looking and hope y'all enjoyed.
End of 2015 (Salamanders and a trip to SoFla)
Moderator: Scott Waters
- Josh Young
- Posts: 262
- Joined: June 7th, 2010, 9:59 pm
- Location: Wakulla County, Florida
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- Berkeley Boone
- Posts: 878
- Joined: June 8th, 2010, 4:02 am
Re: End of 2015 (Salamanders and a trip to SoFla)
Wow!
Those corals! And that freaking tiger!
The little pine was a cutie.
Nice job, Josh!
--Berkeley
Those corals! And that freaking tiger!
The little pine was a cutie.
Nice job, Josh!
--Berkeley
- Josh Holbrook
- Posts: 2196
- Joined: June 7th, 2010, 8:11 am
- Location: Western North Carolina
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Re: End of 2015 (Salamanders and a trip to SoFla)
Looks like you're cleaning up, Josh. Good stuff. That King is beautiful.
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- Posts: 362
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Re: End of 2015 (Salamanders and a trip to SoFla)
Awesome photos...as usual, of course!
I've caught a lot of Brook's kings in my day, but those two are about the fattest and healthiest looking winter kings I've ever seen. Look like fatty captives!
I've caught a lot of Brook's kings in my day, but those two are about the fattest and healthiest looking winter kings I've ever seen. Look like fatty captives!
- walk-about
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Re: End of 2015 (Salamanders and a trip to SoFla)
Josh,
That Brooks Kings is spectacular! Love the Four-toed Mander pics. That specimen is very nicely contrasted. Great work!!
Dave
That Brooks Kings is spectacular! Love the Four-toed Mander pics. That specimen is very nicely contrasted. Great work!!
Dave
Re: End of 2015 (Salamanders and a trip to SoFla)
What a gorgeous tiger Josh. I'm jealous!
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- Posts: 84
- Joined: August 30th, 2014, 12:36 pm
Re: End of 2015 (Salamanders and a trip to SoFla)
this just pisses me off..... just kidding.. sort of. LOL. Great find and photos Josh. Love that little big headed Pine Snake.
- dwakefield
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Re: End of 2015 (Salamanders and a trip to SoFla)
I'm a little late to the game on this, but these are some great finds! I especially love the Coral pics. Nice work.