Amazing weather up here in northeastern PA has gotten things moving a bit. This past week I've been working in a project area with a ton of streams and wetlands which has given me the opportunity for some incidental herp sightings.
First off is this Painted Turtle I found crossing the landowners driveway in between two wetlands:
Farther uphill I came across this awesome seep and eagerly told my coworkers "Sh****t, if I was a Spring Salamander I would live here:
Sure enough, found this guy under the very first rock I flipped:
Found another one in a different seep, by far the biggest one I've seen myself:
While delineating a great looking stream I started thinking that this area looked great for wood turtles, even though I've never seen one before. After a few minutes in the stream I walked up on this sight:
En situ
Lifer Wood Turtle! A decent-sized male
A bit further down the stream I spotted this female basking:
I got out of work early and decided to go mountain biking for a bit and poked around the parking area. A little rustling in the leaves led me to my first snake of the year, this ugly Garter:
While I'm at it, I went hiking with the GF last weekend for some amphibian hunting. How many of us have taken a hundred pics of a redback, convinced at the time that it is something cooler like a Valley and Ridge Salamander? I want someone to tell me this one actually is,
Wood frogs were calling like crazy last weekend:
Leaving their eggs all over the place. Also some ambystomatid eggs:
Two-lined salamander:
And some hot red-spotted newt loving:
Thanks for looking
First reptiles of 2012, including a lifer
Moderator: Scott Waters
- MattSullivan
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Re: First reptiles of 2012, including a lifer
nice! i've never seen a wood turtle or the newts. or the spring salamander hahah
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Re: First reptiles of 2012, including a lifer
Jealous of the Wood Turtles - nice find! I used to go up to some friends house in Susquehanna County every Memorial Day and we'd go hiking, and usually we'd find 1 Wood turtle. As I got older though, we saw less and less. They also had a pond with red-spotted newts in it, lots of frogs, and spotted salamanders in the pasture behind the pond.
- kyle loucks
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Re: First reptiles of 2012, including a lifer
Sorry Matt, hoffmani it aint. Nice turtles though, and a gargantuan spring sal.
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Re: First reptiles of 2012, including a lifer
Wood turtle! Awesome finds! That seep looks amazing.
- Mike VanValen
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Re: First reptiles of 2012, including a lifer
Congrats on your first woody!
- gone herpin
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Re: First reptiles of 2012, including a lifer
Great finds man! Looks like you had one hell of a time!
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Re: First reptiles of 2012, including a lifer
Cool stuff. Gota head further west for hoffmani. You'll know 'em when you see their belly.
Re: First reptiles of 2012, including a lifer
Great post Matt. That Spring sal is a beast! Wood turtles = congrats. The newt shot is cool as well.
- intermedius
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Re: First reptiles of 2012, including a lifer
Beautiful. Congrats on the new lifer.
Justin
Justin
- incuhead2000
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Re: First reptiles of 2012, including a lifer
looks like a good start, thanks for sharing!
Re: First reptiles of 2012, including a lifer
Haha, yeahhhhhh I know. That's why I didn't rush home and post it on here as soon as I found it, lol.kyle loucks wrote:Sorry Matt, hoffmani it aint.
I didn't say where I found this little guywill lattea wrote:Cool stuff. Gota head further west for hoffmani. You'll know 'em when you see their belly.
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Re: First reptiles of 2012, including a lifer
very cool ive done some spring herping this past weekend and found a large spotted salamander but ive never seen a wood turtle
- Jeffreyrichard
- Posts: 322
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- Location: Rhode Island
Re: First reptiles of 2012, including a lifer
Nice ... particulary the wood turtle ... still searching for my 1st ...
I love spring ...
I love spring ...