Hot Day in the woods

So this past Tuesday my friend and I decided to do some field herping here in SW Ohio. We decided to go to this woods where both have found some marbled salamanders. Because it was fairly hot out, we did not think we would find anything. The heat index was around 95-97 degrees. The humidity was fairly high as well.

To our surprise we found a few salamanders. The first we came across was this streamside salamanders.
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An ambystoma in the heat of July is pretty darn good find.

Then in another area of the woods I flipped a log and found this redback around her eggs. This was a big treat for both of us, as neither of us has seen a redback with eggs before.
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We also found some two lined salamanders as well as numerours wood frogs, green frogs, and some spring peepers.


Next we went a bit deeper into the woods and found this female marbled salamander.
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Then we flipped another nearby log and found this newly morphed jefferson salamander.
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Then after a bit more searching we came across this male marbled salamander.
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Despite the heat, mosquitos, and spiders, it was a very productive evening. We did not expect to find much, but we never thought we would see three ambystoma species in the dead heat of July.

I'm not sure why but your photos aren't showing up. Can you try posting them again please?

Here are the pictures hopefully. Not sure why they didn't load last time.


Streamside


Red Back


Female Marbled


Jefferson


Male Marbled

That bottom picture of the Male marbled is actually a female. Sorry about that.

Sounds like a great day you had! Three Ambystoma species is a great find. Well done!

Blackhawk

Thanks. It was a great day. Despite the heat and mosquitos. We were hoping to find a spotted salamander as well, but no luck. I am heading on another herping trip this weekend, hopefully that will go well.

Pat, superb work! Your photos are lovely - you should enter our calendar competition .

I must admit that I've given up trying to find salamanders here in Texas at this time of the year due to the heat. I must applaud your finds in the heat you experienced.

John said:

Pat, superb work! Your photos are lovely - you should enter our calendar competition .

I must admit that I've given up trying to find salamanders here in Texas at this time of the year due to the heat. I must applaud your finds in the heat you experienced.

Click to expand...

Thanks!!! I may do that. Do I just email a digital copy the originals to the email in the calendar post (because they are a few megabytes a piece)?

Yes, we can handle any size email at that address.