January in Texas

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MHollanders
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Joined: June 7th, 2010, 2:32 pm
Location: Houston, TX

January in Texas

Post by MHollanders »

Hi,

January has been awesome this year.  Here's some stuff from southeast and east Texas.

This Hyla squirella from near my house was my first 2011 anuran.

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Quickly followed by a copperhead.

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Eurycea quadridigitata are common.

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A five-lined skink.

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Check the scales.

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This Necturus was a good find.

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Subpar pictures though.

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Looked for some Ambystoma texanum near my house.  Struck out, but found this.

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I like this natural light picture.

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But found some texanum a few days later.

Adult.

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Juvenile.

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Double flip.

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A pretty narrowmouth toad.

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Followed by some copperheads.

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Intergrade contortrix x laticinctus.

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Got lucky with locating some calling Cajun chorus frogs near my house.

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I really like this gray tree frog.

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East Texas this weekend was fantastic.  John flipped this after I rolled the other part of the log 5 minutes earlier.

Regina rigida sinicola.

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We found 12 spotted salamanders.

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A hypomelanistic (?) water snake.

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I was ecstatic to find an opacum on eggs!

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I found another (prettier) adult.

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This big cottonmouth was basking along the creek.

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One ephemeral pond was full of mole salamander larvae.

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An adult was found the next day.

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An awesome looking Cajun chorus frog.

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Aquatic adult newts were dipnetted.

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Many spring peepers were calling, but only one was located.

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We decided to check out a park to look for amphiuma.  Instead, I found my lifer western lesser siren.  A huge one at around 1.5ft!

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Thanks for looking,

Matthijs Hollanders
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spinifer
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Re: January in Texas

Post by spinifer »

Awesome photography as usual.
Check the scales.
Looks like it has 2 enlarged postlabial scales.
gretzkyrh4
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Joined: June 7th, 2010, 12:17 pm
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Re: January in Texas

Post by gretzkyrh4 »

Great job Matthijs! I was happy with my January, but i think yours blew mine out of the water. Congrats on the lifer siren.

Chris
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Phil
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Joined: June 7th, 2010, 8:11 am
Location: Lafayette, LA

Re: January in Texas

Post by Phil »

Awesome! You basically found in January everything that I want to find this year. :lol: I'm especially jealous of the fouquettei: that has been a major target of mine for a while. Great photography and post overall. :thumb:

-Phil
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David Hardesty
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Location: Vancouver, WA

Re: January in Texas

Post by David Hardesty »

Excellent post and photos. I can't wait until it warms up a bit here.
Paul White
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Location: Amarillo, Texas

Re: January in Texas

Post by Paul White »

...
dude.
It's supposed to get to -4 tuesday up here in Amarillo. You've got no idea how jealous I am right now.
teter247
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Joined: July 28th, 2010, 9:12 am

Re: January in Texas

Post by teter247 »

Nice post Matthijs! I'm glad ya'll got the adult mole sally.

That amphi...I mean siren was by far the biggest I've seen. :lol:

Unfortunately, it looks like your broad-headed skink (5 labial scales) is actually a five-lined (4 labial scales).

TH
Simon
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Re: January in Texas

Post by Simon »

Excellent photos, you are talented!
TimCO
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Re: January in Texas

Post by TimCO »

That's it. Where's my frequent flyer miles?
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chrish
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Re: January in Texas

Post by chrish »

Very cool. These sort of posts make me feel really lazy....or tell me I am working too much? Or possibly wasting too much time birding?

Of course, you guys in east TX have have been taking all our rain this winter!
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mrichardson
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Re: January in Texas

Post by mrichardson »

I love the Spotted Sal. on the log shot. Great haul for January.
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Tim Borski
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Re: January in Texas

Post by Tim Borski »

Excellent in every respect! :thumb: :thumb:
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pete
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Re: January in Texas

Post by pete »

I'm joinin the bandwagon!! FANTASTIC post :thumb: :thumb:
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MHollanders
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Location: Houston, TX

Re: January in Texas

Post by MHollanders »

Thanks for all the compliments.
teter247 wrote:Nice post Matthijs! I'm glad ya'll got the adult mole sally.

That amphi...I mean siren was by far the biggest I've seen. :lol:

Unfortunately, it looks like your broad-headed skink (5 labial scales) is actually a five-lined (4 labial scales).

TH
Hello teter247,

There are 5 labial scales on that thing but it also seems there are enlarged postlabials. What are we going to call it?! I don't know, I suck at skinks.

My dad is still looking for his camera, I heard a lady resembling John Williams took it.
r.edwards
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Joined: June 8th, 2010, 4:32 pm
Location: DFW, TX

Re: January in Texas

Post by r.edwards »

good stuff and very nice camera work!
sorry I missed a few of these trips....working around the weekend on the house....

see you guys in 4 weeks when I get free time again

r.edwards
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Josh Holbrook
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Re: January in Texas

Post by Josh Holbrook »

Great photos!
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Mike VanValen
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Re: January in Texas

Post by Mike VanValen »

Great images. That little Nerodia is a stunner.
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Scott_Wahlberg
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Joined: June 7th, 2010, 2:01 pm
Location: Nacogdoches, TX

Re: January in Texas

Post by Scott_Wahlberg »

Nice stuff, Matt. Glad you and your dad could make it up here for the weekend. I'll probably hit the Sabine National Forest a few more times over the next few months. There are some interesting rock formations north of where we were. Let me know if you can make it up again.

Robert, is the ETHS field meet in four weeks or what?

Later, Scott
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Saunders
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Re: January in Texas

Post by Saunders »

Great stuff man! I gotta head East for a weekend sometime, I live only about 3 hours away.
teter247
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Re: January in Texas

Post by teter247 »

There are 5 labial scales on that thing but it also seems there are enlarged postlabials. What are we going to call it?! I don't know, I suck at skinks.
Its a five-lined no question...I have some diagnostic photos of laticeps at home...I'll try to remember to post them tonight.
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spinifer
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Re: January in Texas

Post by spinifer »

teter247 wrote:
There are 5 labial scales on that thing but it also seems there are enlarged postlabials. What are we going to call it?! I don't know, I suck at skinks.
Its a five-lined no question...I have some diagnostic photos of laticeps at home...I'll try to remember to post them tonight.
Agreed. The postlabial scales are by far more diagnostic than the labial count.
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infidel
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Re: January in Texas

Post by infidel »

Excellent post sir and fine photography!
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MHollanders
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Re: January in Texas

Post by MHollanders »

Alright guys, thanks for the help. I'm changing the caption.
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DaneConley
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Re: January in Texas

Post by DaneConley »

I hate winter here in Virginia! It gets cold enough for herps to hibernate but rarely snows. I bet you are jsut laughing your head off by finding copperheads and purposely trying to make us hibernating herpers cry. :cry:
mikemike
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Re: January in Texas

Post by mikemike »

Great shots, man. Looks like a good month down there. My yard in Arkansas is buried in snow and ice right now... after hitting 74 degrees a few days ago. Hopefully we'll start getting some decent weather soon...
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MHollanders
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Re: January in Texas

Post by MHollanders »

It turns out the rigida was a county record.

Thanks again for the compliments.
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Scott_Wahlberg
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Re: January in Texas

Post by Scott_Wahlberg »

Matthijs,

The Texas A&M website lists Regina regida as having been documented from Sabine county.

-Scott
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MHollanders
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Re: January in Texas

Post by MHollanders »

Hmmmm... I guess the Dixon book is outdated. Too bad!
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kcmatt
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Re: January in Texas

Post by kcmatt »

Nice, I was a bit surprised to see an opacum on eggs. Does that not happen in the November/fall timeframe down your way due to rain, or was an observation in Jan a less than average occurrence down there?
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MHollanders
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Re: January in Texas

Post by MHollanders »

I was surprised as well, but I don't know enough about to them to know if it's uncommon in January. When I walked into the dry ephemeral wetland I hoped to find one, and voila, it was that, but I'm not sure if that's common or not in January. I suspect it depends on the amount of rainfall an area has received.
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