Tennessee herping

So I spent last week in lovely Townsend Tennessee, bordering Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The weather the first few days was amazing, then it rained and got cold (probably too cold for sallies). Other than wanting to punch deer (and punch the people who stopped EVERY time they saw a deer), the trip was awesome.

Unfortunately, we didn't find any rare species. Nor did I get a chance to look for hellbenders. While they had been found within a few miles of my cabin, the river was pretty wild from all the rain.

But here are some pics from the Cades Cove and Chimney Tops areas of the park.


The species are: Spring Salamander (Gyrinophilus porphyriticus), Seal Salamander (Desmognathus monticola), Southern Redback? (Plethodon serratus), Unknown species (Probably Desmognathus), Blue Ridge Two-lined (Eurycea wilderae), pigmy Salamander (Desmognathus wrighti), Pigmy Salamander, Pigmy Salamander.

We also found an abundance of chorus frog tadpoles. They were everywhere, in any water that was standing.

Species that we found that I didn't get (good) photographs of include Spotted salamanders (Ambystoma maculatum), Shovel-nosed salamanders (Desmognathus marmoratus), Imitator salamander (Desmognathus imitator), long-tailed salamander (Eurycea longicauda), and Slimy salamander (Plethodon glutinosis).

I've also learned that herping in Appalachia is SO much harder than herping in Michigan. At least up here, all the species look fairly distinct. Down there, they're all shades of brown or grey or look like each other. It's terrible! And I also learned to not underestimate the herping skills of the non-herpetologists. Richard (my significant other) and my friend Andy found more specimens than the rest of us combined. Once they found the first P. glutinosis, it was all downhill from there. Every log they flipped... Silly foresters anyway.

Attached picture is of an Eastern newt, covered in mites(?).

Well it looks like you had a fair amount of success. This makes me jealous because when I went down last month I didn't find the first salamander. I only had a limited amount of time in the woods however and the locals were telling me that it was unusually dry from the lack of rain.
Chip

We definitely plan on going again. But since this was spring break, and a time more for relaxing and less for hardcore herping, we didn't spend a lot of time in the field. There's just so much to see! I love the history of the area, and wanted to see everything. But then, the herps are so cool too! So we didn't have much time to see everything. We'll be going back again.

But I'm trying to get a job in the area (well, anywhere south of Michigan but north of Florida would work), get the farm going, and hopefully herp on my own land.

Also, the spring sal was the second sal we'd found the first day out (we'd found 6 or 7 species by lunchtime). Discovered by my significant other, under a 'pretty rock'.

Looks like a productive trip. Thanks for the pictures. It's nice to see what's down there. Every time I visit my friend in Knoxville, it's December. It's usually cold and I don't find much.

That was pretty cool! I would have been happy with that. Poor little Noto, though. Anyway, glad you had fun!

punch deer, haha,

Seriously. They were everywhere! We could have 'hunted' them with baseball bats. I tried to convince Richard to try to ride one while I was taking pictures. They're absolutely fearless. And EVERY time anyone saw a deer, they HAD to stop and take pictures for like 20 minutes, holding up traffic. It was obnoxious.